There is no happily ever after
by bigbook29
Summary: "There is a cancer eating at the earth. In a single day it has covered this planet with a flood of living blades and needle-fanged mouths the likes of which no gem has ever seen. They're a horror, an abomination, there's no talking to it. There's no peace here. There is no reason. It's all been abandon. The Great Devourer has come. And there is nothing we can do to stop it."
1. Chapter 1

She was a good gem. She really was.

Playing this game with her Diamond. Doing exactly as she was told. She was a good gem. Especially after so long.

She hoped she was doing it right; it would be embarrassing if after all this time it turned out she was doing it wrong.

And it has been a long time. Doing nothing but counting the seconds and looking right to the warp pad.

The stars hung above as they always did. Sometimes she would be lucky and see a star whiz by.

They were nice but so rare. Sometimes they were enough to drive away from the bad thoughts. The thoughts that told her she did something wrong, that her Diamond was punishing her.

She remembers the last time they spoke. She remembers every word her Diamond said, every step her Diamond took. What could she have done wrong?

She knew her Diamond was upset about not having a colony of her own, and about her not being taken seriously by the other Diamonds. She spent so much time trying to cheer her up during the times, trying to keep at her side. Trying to make her smile.

Her Diamond would only give her glances, while barely saying a word during those times. But if her Diamond was mad at her, something would be said, obviously. She remembers that she can be 'a bit much' at times. The few times she had to interact with other gems told her that.

They would never say it to her out loud, but she can tell. They were not good at playing pretend like she and her diamond were. Whenever Spinel had overstepped her boundaries, her Diamond's Pearl...the newer one, would give her the most disapproving looks possible.

When the Sodalites would come to tend to the garden's vegetation, it was much the same. She would try to play with them, and they would politely say no while giving her disgusted looks.

They thought of her as a childish joke. That they were better than her.

She misses them. She misses her Diamond. She misses the fun, the light in her life.

But she couldn't go to them.

Time went on, the Garden had fallen to disarray. Growing and withering away right before her eyes as each day passed. Each second came and went. She can feel the growth on her form, vines and moss crawling up her legs. She used to be afraid they would pull her down into the soil.

They died long before they had a chance.

"Let's play a new game, Spinel. I'll show you how it's done. You just need to stand here, very still. And keep here until I come back." That is not game. That is just waiting in a spot until her Diamond comes back. She could have just been asked to wait, she knew that her diamond could be busy at times, so it was normal.

Knowing that, she said the words anyway. "This would be so much fun!" Her Diamond smiled. That was all she wanted, that was why she existed. Just to make her diamond smile, to just hear her diamond laugh. It made her happy to listen. Happy to wait. Happy to play whatever game her Diamond wanted.

Any moment now, her Diamond would come back. The light of the warp pad would shine, and she would be reunited with her Diamond. All that stood in the way of that, was time. What's a little thing like that to stand in the way of happiness?

189,842,003,203

189,842,003,204

189,842,003,205

189,842,003,206

Counting seconds made it worse, but it was all that she had. There was nothing more for her. Her eyes have glazed over everything in front of her.

The two planets, she named 'Biggie' and 'Smalls' were the only things she could look at for so long, that had any movement to them. Still filled with life and color after so much time. And yet so far from reach.

The only thing near the garden was the hollow remains of what was once a moon. The place where she was made.

It was gone of any bit of life, of any hope to be whole once more. It would get closer at times...sometimes even being near enough that if she would move, she can stretch towards it. Her injector was still there. Refilled after its use, but long since abandoned. Pink has a history of…

Pink has a history of leaving...behind her toys.

"I'm not a toy. I'm her best friend." Words like that have been spoken so many times. She closes her eyes as she feels the tears try to form in her eyes.

The dark thoughts were coming back.

And she was alone with them. What she would give for someone to come. To hear something else. She tried for so long to fill in the silence with her own voice, by singing or just having one-sided conversations with herself. That got boring after 4,637 seconds. She finally gave up on it at 185,821 seconds, when even her own voice became part of the silence around her.

189,842,039,998

189,842,039,999

189,842,040,000

There are times she hoped something had happened. Something horrible, and cruel. Where thousands of gems were scattered. That her Diamond was captured, that her very finely cut self is scraped and scratched endlessly, as each crystalline mineral bit that drifted off her perfect form was used as seasoning for some organic creature's meal.

She hated those thoughts. She did, honestly. But she needed them. Because they were all she had. Little fantasies. Cause if they weren't true, which she knew they weren't, then that would mean her Diamond simply…

189,843,239,998

189,843,239,999

189,843,240,000

A light shine. Finally, something.

It was not the warp pad; it was from the diamond Communicator.

A voice was heard. It was distorted. And the picture was unclear.

Six thousand years. She stayed in that spot. For six thousand lonely years she stayed right there.

She didn't want to play the game anymore. She didn't want to wait.

She took the first step, and immediately began running.

There was no moment of awe at disobeying her diamond. No fear of her being caught. No thoughts at all being made. All she focused on was the voice.

The first voice she heard in thousands of years, and she ran towards it. She ignored the vines, and withered flowers she stepped over. She ignored how her form simulates pain along her arms and legs from the sudden movement.

She reaches the communicator as the message reaches its end. And that is when her focus finally began to shift toward the realization of it all.

Her knees give out and she looks to the communicator.

Pink Diamond was gone.

Her Diamond left her here. Abandoned her. Got a new life, got what she always wanted, got new friends.

And gave it all up for him. A half-diamond organic creature known as Steven Universe.

The message came again, and again. Being caught in a loop. The communicator was old and hasn't been cared for in so long. Yet it worked enough to crush her hope.

There was a moment she thought she could have heard wrong, misjudged. That it was all just a joke.

But the only joke here was her.

First came the pain. Tears were shed, with her sobs going out as far as the air could take them.

Then came the fury. Screaming as much as she ever had, and ever will. She runs away, this time towards the warp pad. Her hand grew. Inflated with size as she crushes the first steps.

The color, the design. She hated it. She hated that it was the only thing she saw. For 189,843,240,000 seconds it was all she had. And now, all it did was remind her of it. She wanted it gone, to make her pain stop.

Stone crumbled from her strength as she rapidly crushes parts of the temple design under her might, randomly hitting it.

She doesn't care, nothing matters anymore. Her diamond, her literal reason for existence is gone and she was just forgotten!

When the fist was about to come down on the warp pad itself...she hesitated. A part of herself said that it was time to stop. To return to Homeworld and see things for herself. But the other part, the dark thoughts said different things. Bad things. And she listened.

Her fist smashes directly onto the crystalline platform with all her might. It creaks and bends underneath her, bits of electricity shot out at first.

And then a lot more electricity bursts out.

She was only able to give out a low "uh-oh" before the pad erupted with a warp stream shooting right through her.

Spinel had seen the warp activate many times; it was how others would come to the garden of course. But she was not met with the harmless cylindrical beam of bright light.

Instead, something else comes out from the pad. It took the form of a ravenous violent storm of pure energy that flung her away.

The stone steps crumbled further under her weight as she bounced off them and landed onto her back. Ironically not far off from where she stood previously for such a long time.

She looked to the sky, to the storm that came from the warp pad. Her form ached; she could feel her gem itself begin to shiver as she watched it. As if something was wrong. The storm broke into the endless sky, seeming to burn away the abyss that it was in its way and replace it with something else.

Something the lonely gem could only think of as beautiful.

It was a large tear within the sky itself. Stretching across the very sky of the garden. Maybe even further. "Wowzers. That thing sure is big." Spinel mumbles out, staring into the rift.

It's nothing like the empty sky that was held over her head for thousands of years. It was colorful and teeming with energy. She can make out so much within.

It was like staring deep within another universe.

"There's red, blue, pink, orange, yellow, pink, purple...pink." Her voice turned into a whimper, as she tightly closed her eyes.

Pink was gone. Her Diamond left her behind.

More tears began to leak from her eyes. Even closed as tightly as she could, it did nothing to stop them from leaking out. What was she to do? Her purpose for living was gone. She was supposed to make her diamond happy. Did she do that by staying in the garden? By being forced to suffer thousands of years of loneliness?

The dark thoughts started calling again. Becoming louder than before. They made all too much sense.

How would such a thing make her Diamond happy? How would this make anyone happy? Unless…

Her Diamond wanted her to suffer.

She grabbed at the heart-shaped buns on top of her head and tried to shut out the thoughts. Her eyes looking towards the rift above her, staring at the large mass of color and life.

It was too late for her to realize that it stared back.

It was no rift. It wasn't anything that she knew of. It was a living, pulsating, thing.

Though it was made up of colors and stars, it was not of anything she could know of. It was not something that should exist. And yet, it was there.

It was reaching out to her.

Forcing her to see it more clearly. To see everything more clearly.

Cold indifference. Maddening screams.

Something was pulling itself through and she could see it. She could hear it.

Eyes. Claws. Tendrils. Teeth. Bodies. Countless bodies.

"I don't want to play anymo-"

A loud poof echoed across the garden. And finally, silence greets it once more.

Her gem is left on the floor. A discarded toy left to be forgotten by who she loved most.

* * *

Her mind felt cluttered and yet at ease for the first time in thousands of years. Thoughts came and went, in a spiral in such overwhelming numbers. It was a mess at first, like pure white noise that scratches the mind.

It hurt. It made her want to cruel up and cry.

It made her feel alive.

189,843,240,000 seconds. Over six thousand years of silence. Broken.

Dark thoughts she didn't want to invade her mind were pushed back and replaced with...

A want. A need. A hunger.

For the first time in over six thousand years, Spinel could say she was no longer alone.

She didn't know what to do at first. Emotions that she did not know how to react to. Feelings that she was made to never feel. They made her aware of herself, of what she wanted.

She didn't want to have fun. She didn't want to play any more games. She didn't want a best friend.

She wanted violence. She wanted revenge. She wanted to eat.

A name comes to her mind, pushing through the overwhelming noise as to remind her.

Steven Universe.

She wanted to find him. She needed to. He has to…

Someone has to make pay.

When her body reformed, she was not what she used to be. Her form was different. Her gem had repositioned itself. She looked like a bad person. And it made her feel 'happy'. A different kind of happy then she was used to. This kind of happiness was raw and tainted. But it made her feel more alive.

She looked to the sky and saw that the rift above the Garden was gone.

Vanished without a trace to be found. And yet something else was there. Almost as if to take its place.

'Biggie' was dead. The whole planet looked as if all life on it was gone. Leaving it reduced to nothing more than a big empty rock. Just like the moon she was made from. There was something near it.

At first, she mistook them for a fleet of ships from Homeworld. But they weren't that at all. They were some kind of organic species, one's capable of living out in the void of space.

She wasn't very familiar with organics. There were those bugs that were brought in by the Sodalites, and the replacement that was called Steven, who she was sure was organic too. But that was it.

And these seemed vastly different than both those she knew of, especially in size and form.

She watches as they continue to move along the planet. Doing so in complete sync with themselves in a weird harmony. The more she watched, the more she could feel something...

It could not be described. It made her head hurt. It was so loud and so ferocious, but she couldn't make herself look away. The white noise that was in her mind grows even more than it was before, the scratches turned to lacerations.

It was better to feel pain than nothing at all.

"Are you...hungry?" She asks, tilting her head as the creatures continued to just drift around the dead planet. The noise told her things, made her feel so much about them.

That they were many, but one. That they were strong together, but weak alone. That they were hungry. Always hungry.

The feelings she felt when she was being reformed. It came from them. Hunger.

They wanted to eat. They needed to eat.

There were so many. All of them with one goal, wanting to take more and more, to add to their numbers. To join and become a part of their collective union.

For such a broken lonely gem such a thing was just beautiful.

"C-Can I be one of you? Can I be your best friend?" She calls out to them, holding her arms out to the dead planet. They said nothing back.

But Spinel could feel a response. They only wish to add more to their numbers and improve themselves. Accepting anything that can be taken. All of them thought this. The billions of thoughts there, all thought as one.

There was a beauty in the synchronization of it all. No one to be left out. No one to be forgotten.

She felt herself smile for the first time in so long. A want forming in her noise-filled mind. To make someone pay, for the years of suffering she went through. To make them never forget her again.

The hunger is growing and it is time to play another game.

This time, she gets to win.

* * *

"Boy, things really have gotten a bit hectic around here." Steven whispers as he places his phone down. Just finishing the call with a member of congress.

Apparently having to be an ambassador for an alien race that had been both safeguarding the planet for thousands of years...and has also been a largest threat to said planet for just as long, was causing some issues to be raised.

Not only within the American government, but all over the world.

The meetings in the U.N alone were enough to make him want to want to bash his head in with a rock. Apparently just saying 'it's okay, I convinced the bad people to stop fighting' wasn't enough. Things were a lot more complicated than that.

Between the number of new laws to be made, the constant hearings, the idea of taxation, making new settlements, questions from the press such as 'is common jewelry a form of bodily mutilation of gems'...all happening within the past year. It was all becoming ridiculous.

As of now, he was just too tired even able to think of what to do next.

All he wanted was to lay on his bed and stare up to the ceiling for a few moments of silence to clear his mind. It's been over 3 years since he had established peace, and it has been a bumpy ride, to say the least.

He was thankful to have his family at his side through it all. Garnet was great with hearings, Pearl was good at keeping him on schedule, and Amethyst was just nice to have around to help him deal with it all. But even then, if one more person tried to connect fusion with sex or began to apologize to him for wearing a ring or a necklace with jewelry, he was going to lose his restraint, and possibly go mad.

The most he was able to get was a single deep breath, before a knock on the door was heard, and Pearl walked into his room. "Steven? Sorry to barge in but...more news came in about the situations." He holds a hand to his face as he gives out a loud sigh. Not even attempting to hold in the whine.

The 'situations' as they've been calling it, was something that has been happening for a while now. Natural disasters that have been hitting almost every day in every part of the world.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes erupting, violent storms, blizzards. All without warning, all suddenly happening and randomly stopping. It baffled many and didn't make much sense to even more.

He pulled himself from the bed and left his room with Pearl in tow. He was halfway down the stairs before he could overhear the conversation between the other Crystal Gems. Amethyst and Garnet.

"And we are sure it isn't The Cluster? I don't know much about science stuff but wouldn't something like that cause some of these issues?" Amethyst's tone betrayed her desire for some kind of answer. She was getting desperate for some explanation. All of them are at this point.

"It shouldn't be. Steven and Peridot checked to be sure." Garnet's reply made the short gem let out an exaggerated sigh.

He could understand the stress, ever since these situations started happening, they as a team have been trying to work nonstop. But each situation just kept piling up, and it was proving too daunting a task for them.

'We'll always save the day. And if you think we can't, we'll always find a way.'

How wrong were they to think that.

For every person they were able to actually save, the deaths always outnumbered the survivors. For every issue or damaged location that they managed to fix, three more would take its place. They barely had time to think, barely time to even breath.

It was like being superheroes...minus the fact there wasn't a bad guy they could just punch.

"What was it this time?" He asked as he joined the two gems conversation, sitting on the couch with them. Garnet was the one to answer. "We got a massive flood that just hit Empire City. A sinkhole opened up and swallowed about 300 meters of land, shallowing half a town with it in Texas. Russia is facing a massive sudden heat-wave during their winter, causing more flooding issues, and finally, the reporters are back again."

She's become really good at saying things that just ruin what little of a good day he could have. With a shake of his head and loud sigh, he stands himself up and starts to walk to the front of the house, looking through one of the front windows.

They were gathered outside, cameras and microphones at the ready.

After making peace between the gems and humanity, it didn't take much work to find out how much of Beach City's budget went into it being fixed from some 'past issues between the gems'. And when the public found out about corrupted gems, there was a storm of people wanting to know the 'secret truth the gems have been hiding'.

It was like an entire army of Ronaldo. Always talking and asking questions, throwing their crackpot theories at him most of the time. He was starting to become sure more than half of them weren't even reporters, just weirdos that wanted to get within smelling distance of him.

He was tired. All he wanted was just a moment of peace.

Was it really too much to ask for one day at this point? After all that he's done already, and yet he is still being bothered with so much more. The press, the hearings, the situations, the gems, his own personal issues. It was getting to a point that his own pet was terribly ill, and he couldn't even do so much as to and go out and pet it, without five separate things stopping him along the way.

Pressing his forehead against the glass, Steven closes his eyes and tries to take a calming breath.

He missed Lion. He missed just spending time with his dad. He missed being carefree.

He is so tired.

"We've sent Lapis to take care of the flooding issues. Bismuth went with some quarts to help the sinkhole situation." Pearl tells him, as she places a hand onto his shoulder. "We can make them leave. They are on our property." She tried to offer him, but he knew better.

So did Garnet. "It won't make us look good. They'll just start pushing the blame towards us, thinking we're dodging the issue. Maybe we sh-" She stopped talking mid-sentence, making Steven and Pearl turn to face her.

"...huh? Yo, Garnet, what's up?" Amethyst calls out, waving a hand to the fusion's face, but gets no response from her. The tall gem was utterly petrified on the spot.

Pearl calls out to the gem next, moving to the couch to see what was wrong. By the time Steven could even take a step towards, the fusion was already screaming

"Brace for impact!"

He barely even understood what happened next. He would say at the time that maybe it was a missile that hit them, going by stuff he saw in movies.

All he knew was that the entire temple just was hit hard enough to cause the whole thing to nearly collapse on itself. It didn't thankfully, Bismuth made it so it could handle such a thing.

Didn't stop him from being sent flying out the window to the porch, as the foundation of the building lurched forward. He felt the impact more than anything at first. How his body smashed through the glass, and was struck against the wooden railing, he could honestly say it wasn't the worst he hit he's taken. The shards of glass embedded in his body…

The pain didn't come immediately. He was too focused on trying to make out what was happening. There was smoke, and a pink glow. But that was all that he could understand. His mind felt rattled, and just felt like it was pulsing in his skull. His vision was hazy, and he couldn't even make out a sound.

He didn't know if that last one was because he hit his head, or if it was the loud deafening sound of an explosion knocked his hearing out.

One of the gems came to him, with him believing it was Pearl. She was moving her lips but words were still too much for him. Nausea came as she picked him up in her arms, and carried him within the slanted house.

The movement did help his hearing to seemed, enough so that he could actually hear Amethyst yelling something at Garnet. "-ss physic powers. Way to warn-" Her voice faded in and out, let he was able to hear something.

Peal was shouting something next.

He was so tired.

"-ase don't move! You've be-...-nd what that wa-"

Clearing to clear the vision did little, trying to move his arm to rub at his eyes was not a good idea. That was when the pain kicked in.

He tried to react to it, but the moment he tried to make some voice his throat felt as if it was filled with gravel.

The pain was just awful, like a burning across his left side. Cold hands were on his face. "-reath! Steven Breath-" Pearl's voice again, as she was trying to help. He wanted to speak but it hurt. He wanted to move but it hurt to do that to. It was even becoming too much to keep his eyes open.

So he closes them for what felt like a moment.

When he opened them again, the pain was gone. He could breath, he could see, he could hear.

He was in the bathroom, lying within the bathtub of all places. Near him was Pearl as she was talking on the phone. "I know! I tried calling an ambulance, the lines were busy. I did stop the bleeding, an-" She pauses as a voice interrupts her, a man's voice that was scared and horribly worried, as any parent would be.

"H-Hey..." He coughs to clear his throat as he pushes himself to sit up. It hurt to do, but he did manage to reach halfway up before hand held him back down, Garnet's.

He didn't notice her at first. His mind was still in a haze. "You got hurt." She told him in her usual stoic voice demeanor seemed troubled. Amethyst wasn't in the room. She was outside, he could hear her shouting at something.

He couldn't hold a thought as Pearl realized he was up, she immediately came to his side. "Steven, I'm so sorry. W-We were so worried a-and you were bleeding, I panicked and I-"

Garnet interrupted the other gem. "We took the glass out. Amethyst managed to get you some water from Rose's garden that we kept in stock. I'm sorry, Steven." The fusion seemed remorseful about something, but he knew she wasn't sorry for how long it took to heal him.

"What happened? Earthquake?" He offered as an explanation, but both gems shook their heads at him.

"Something hit us...and it was big. There was a lot of damage throughout the whole city and the casualties are..." Pearl stopped herself with her own hand to her mouth and turned away from him.

It must have been really bad if that were the case. "...how many got hurt?" He asks, looking to Garnet. The fusion takes her glasses off, letting Steven see her guilt-filled eyes.

"A lot."

"How many are...gone?"

"Too many."

He tried to hold back the tears. He knew this kind of thing happens with disasters. He's seen the damage the situations cause.

But this was in his own home. The place he was raised, where he knew so many people. It terrified him, just thinking of who he knew could be hurt, or worse. "Peridot is organizing a refugee camp. A lot of gems are volunteering to help find anyone hurt. Lapis and Bismuth are still busy with other places."

He holds a shuddering breath as he runs his hand along his own face. Taking a moment to try and collect himself in thought, to focus on other things. "What happened. I know something hit us, but what exactly?"

Pearl gives an unsure glance to Garnet before answering. "It was a machine of some kind. It's hard to say what exactly, but it was large enough to cause a lot of damage." She told him, as she looked at her phone as it gave a beep. From the small glance he got from the screen, it looked to be another report from Peridot. With a disgruntled look, she places it back within her gem, as she continues to speak.

"It came holding a kind of liquid within it that spewed out after it crashed. Judging from the machinery and the glass...I think it was an injector. But not one I'm familiar with."

"An injector!?" He cried out horribly, as he threw his hands onto his head, and let out an angered filled groan. Already he can imagine the kind of trouble this will give him if the media and government found out that this incident was gem related.

He pushed himself to stand from the tub, using the wall to hold himself up. Garnet was quick to grab him and hold him up the moment his footing faltered.

"Careful. You were really cut up. Even with the water from the garden, your muscles still need to rest." He shook his head at her, ripped himself out of her hold. "I can't be careful Garnet. We need to know exactly what happened. Maybe it was an accident from the diamonds, or another rebel gem group. We have to be sure." He limped towards the door, with gems right behind him.

He could hear them whisper something behind him...but he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment.

He was tired, and in pain, but he needed to do this.

The house was a mess. Broken glass from the windows and door was everywhere. Parts of the wooden floor were either rooted up or just fallen broken inward. The furnace was bent awkwardly, and the main hanging lamp was smashed onto the floor. The warp pad seemed to be one piece, but the same couldn't be said for the Temple Gate. The whole thing looked to collapse on itself.

It was going to take time to fix all this.

Amethyst was at the balcony, whip in hand and sitting on the railing as she was looking out to the beach. "Hey, you doing okay?" She asked, seeming troubled about something when he came up to her. The same way Garnet and even Pearl were troubled.

"I'll be better...once I see the rest of Beach City. Did something happen?" He looks to the whip. Amethyst just shrugs her shoulders. "Eh, just some reporters trying to take pictures of the house. I told them it was too dangerous here, but they were being stupid. So, I had to scare them off. Sorry about that." Out of all the gems, Amethyst really did try the hardest to behave. Knowing that anything she did was going to reflect on him. She didn't sound mournful about what she did though, not that Steven would blame her.

He leaned next to her, and surveyed the damage. "Trust me, I don't think anyone is gonna mind you being a little mad." He sighed as he saw exactly what Pearl and Garnet told him.

Large broken machine parts and huge glass shards littered the place. He could even make out some sticking up from the water, along with heavy pools of a thick pink liquid that. It didn't look that bad, but it was still enough to make him worried. He could see small fish and crabs floating along the surface of the pink water. Not moving at all.

"City's worst," Amethyst told him. Not even trying to shorten the blow such a thing caused him. "People who touched that stuff couldn't move their limbs. Other people who got hit by it…" She sucks in a bit of air between her teeth.

Garnet and Pearl stood at the doorway. Both of them looked to as if he actually knew what to do next. "We're going to try and inspect the crash. See if there is any reason why...all this happened. You don't need to come!" Pearl told him, trying to be quick and make it so Steven could just rest.

"I have to Pearl. At least so I can say something when people ask me what happened...i-is dad okay?" He asked as he looked at the gems. Pearl nodded back to him, letting him give one thankful sigh of relief. "Okay, let's just get this over with then, so we get to fixing all this."

The four walked, or in Steven's case, limped along from their home and around the cliff. It really did hurt him. Seeing his home like this. Flames, and broken buildings as far as he could see. He needed to fix this. He has too.

He was just so tired.

* * *

It was weird for her. Looking up to this planet's sky. It was so much brighter. So much more colorful than the garden. There were these large things in the air that looked soft and puffy.

After being for so long in the cold, quiet, blackness, there was nothing she could say for what she was feeling, expect the word 'weird'.

It was weird that she missed it. Being able to just stand on solid ground. You think after 6 thousand years it would be enough. But for her, it was just familiar. Out in space, she couldn't hear anything, couldn't see much. She had her friends, but she could only feel them. She was left to the silence again.

58,240,000 seconds.

That was how long she was in that silence. Over a year she rode on the injector with her new friends. Her new best friends. They were still with her, all of them.

"I'm sorry. I got excited and moved ahead. I...I was stupid. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Shel holds her hands to her head. It took a year of her leading them towards this planet, only to abandon them at last minute. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" She cried out, as she tightly closed her eyes. Expecting some reaction from her friends. To be yelled at. To be punished. To be left alone.

Nothing comes.

There is no anger. No hate. Just a pure desire. A want, a need to accept more into itself. For her it was enough to bring tears once more. "T-Thank you. I-I'm one of you, right? Right. Are you all still hungry?" They were always hungry.

And she was more than happy to give them their next meal.

"Hello?" A voice called out. It was his voice. Of course, he would come. She didn't know how or why but she just knew to come to this spot of the planet for him. It's fine though. She was done looking at the new sky anyway, as it was starting to be covered by large fluffy black shapes.

It reminded her a little too much of home.

Turning her head, she saw him looking up to her. He was smaller than she expected. And he seemed to have trouble walking and holding himself upright.

This was it? Pink's replacement?

"Are you Steven Universe?" She asks him. Need to be sure. Maybe all humans just looked the same. But he had gems with him. Including a…

It took her a moment to realize she was laughing. That she was laughing so hard that she could feel her whole body heaving on itself. She could barely hear him when he said "Y-Yes, I am" back to her.

How could she not laugh? Of course, she took her Pearl with her. Leaving her best friend behind, taking the boring little spoilsport, isn't that just 'swell'. "It can't be…" The voice tried to hide in a whisper, with a look of disbelief.

That made her get control of her laughing. "Haha-oh, but it is." She said back. The entire structure of the what was once the injector, creeks as she walks to its edge. They looked so small to her with how high she was standing. So breakable.

She runs a hand through her hair with a bit of flair, proud of her changed appearance. "I got a new style…and a 'few' new friends. Friends that are gonna make it so that there is NO happily ever AFTER!"

The other two gems looked confused but ready to fight. The organic, the replacement, seems to notice this too. "Whoa, l-look, can you please calm down? Whatever happened, I'm sure we can talk things through." He tried to offer, giving her a smi-

He has her smile. The same smile that Pink had when she left her. The smile that just told her to wait.

"Talk? Talk!" She found herself shouting as she springs her foot straight down to the human's face from all the way up on the broken injector, kicking him away with enough force to send him sprawling onto his back. "I've had nothing but you talking for over 58,240,000 seconds! Your little message was all I had, on LOOP!" Her legs contract back to its normal shape, and she stomps down on it.

This truly was it? The replacement?!

She sees the other gems ready their weapons but doesn't even give them a second glance as she leaped down to their level, landing right in front of the replacement, and leaning right into his shocked face.

"And don't even get me started on that. Oh, I just loved the part where Pink Diamond thought it would be FUNNY to just go off to some nowhere planet! With a bunch of nobodies! Laughing at me, right behind my back!" She folds herself to the side, making Pearl's spear miss her.

The whip of the Amethyst comes next, and she just lets her body slip along the floor, easily moving out of its way and propping herself right behind the Garnet, who tries to swing a large fist at her. It didn't hit.

They were slow. They were sloppy.

Each attack they gave, each attempt they made. They would miss their chance.

The Garnet tried to rush her. Fist raised again, with Spinel only needing to move herself slightly to the left, causing the fusion to hit the charging Amethyst's face, and knocking the smaller into Pearl.

She continues to speak, dodging each hit attack they throw, slipping and folding her body when needed.

"She must have had a good laugh. But I am the one getting the last laugh. She wants to play games...then I have one. New best friends too! And I-no-We will finally get what we want!"

She shouts as she slips herself away from the gems, and moves right over the replacement, grabbing him by his face as she throws him at the others. The Garnet manages to catch him, but she is not able to stop Spinel's other hand from stretching out to grab her ankle.

The fusion and replacement were thrown together, right into the Pearl and Amethyst.

They were slow and sloppy. It was too easy. Almost sad. But this was fitting. This is how it should be. With her, she can feel her friends getting closer with every second. She can make Pink pay, and her friend's hunger can end.

"Finally, we get to win! And finally, we get to eat!"

* * *

"She's making a joke out of us." Garnet says as she helped him get back on his feet.

A groan is heard from Amethyst. "I'm rusty, give me a break!"

Pearl was still on her knees, looking more confused than worried. "It really is her. But...how? Why?" She mumbles, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Do you know who she is Pearl?" He shouldn't have said that. The crazy gem overheard him.

"Who am I? Who am I!? The question you should be asking is who is us!" She shouts, stomping herself towards them. Her voice was creaking, sounding uneven.

He summons his shield, as the other gems quickly stand themselves. Weapons at the ready. She may be faster, but they might be able to catch her off guard.

They never even realized how dark the sky had turned.

It comes with the loud boom of thunder, and then suddenly they were forced back as winds and rain hit them. Hard.

It seemed as if their luck was getting worse. A situation just came over Beach City. A storm, and a heavy one at that. The wind blew hard enough he was forced to take a knee as he tried to steady himself. That could hear the large wreckage of the machine around them groan as they shifted in the dirt itself.

Tropical storm? Hurricane?

Why not just have tornado over his head and get it over with...

Within seconds, the rain was just as much of a problem as the gem herself. It was dense and relentless and made it near impossible for him to see anything, as the water and heavy winds kept hitting his eyes. The thunder was deafening, and the lightning was blinding.

But even through it all. He still heard her voice.

"Creep through the stillness, it shrouds us, the silence...we're waking, I'm stalking, enduring, painstaking." It became eerily calm, for a moment, somber in tone. Broken even. He was barely able to make her out in the rain, even while trying to use his shield to keep the water off his face. "I'm shaking, they're galling. The massacre's calling! They've noticed the dawning of our magnum opus!"

Then her voice picked up, turning from sad to an extreme level of excitement within a few words, and she was suddenly on the attack. Garnet tried to meet her halfway but was easily knocked to the dirt. "Our tendrils have parted the creaks in the stars, as we slip through the space in-between." The pink blur chants as she continues to gain on them, having leaped off Garnet's body.

He tried to raise up the shield, but the wet dirt he was on did not help his sandals. He lost his footing again, barely able to react as Pearl is knocked far from him. He is only able to make out her being thrown up in the air as the blur continues to move towards him, seeming to come at him faster. The craze gem chanting continued. "Cacophony echoes through the dark of the sky and the air starts to split at the steam."

Amethyst is thrown off next, screaming out as she was thrown against a large shard of glass that shatters from the impact. "The horizon is sundered to announce our return, a thousand bodies, with one mind that yearns."

Her voice was getting closer, and he saw her shape heading towards him. He panicked, tried to form a bubble around himself.

He is too slow, as just before it could fully form, he is grabbed by the throat and is harshly thrown into the ground on his back. The gem's fingers were pressing against his face, forcing his mouth open as they were trying to dig into his skin. Pulling at it too awkwardly, to flesh-tearing levels. "They are blind to the beauty of synchronization and so succumb to our predation!"

The other gems rushed in to try and help him, but like before she easily shoves them away. He isn't able to see how as the gem forces him to look at her. The chanting turned to screaming, with a crooked smile on her face that showed a twisted form of excitement, hatred, and joy all at once.

"Every fleeting moment, every passing hope, will be mercilessly dashed, it is all entailed! To facilitate consumption; infinite resumption of the countless cycles of starving want! Our unfathomable desires shared throughout the hivemind, are an inexplicable fate assigned! Our evolution is impending, this world will end, and we will finally end this game!"

He feels his body falling and braces himself as he hits the wet dirt again. He isn't able to hold himself from shouting in pain. A burning feeling spread along his side, the same spot where the glass was stabbed into him.

He didn't even realize he was being moved. Three years of peace had really set them this far back it seemed. "Steven!" He can hear Pearl cry out. She sounds far from him, but he couldn't make out where how dense rain around them is.

The gem was standing over him, still giving that horrid smile as she basked in her seemingly victory, loudly and madly laughing to herself.

He tries to look around, to see something that could help himself. The rain did mess with his vision, making it hard to keep his eyes open for more than a moment. He isn't able to make out Pearl, but he can see two shapes of color. One red-ish and the other purple. They were closed by.

But so was something else.

The water was hitting his face, and it was getting hard to see, but he swore that he was able to see something moving towards him in the rain, that wasn't a gem. Not like he had long to think about it, as the crazy gem stomps a foot down onto his face.

It hurt.

He was barely able to see, between the dirt in his eyes, the rain, the literally foot harshly pressing his face.

But he did manage to hear her as she began to shout into the air. "It's over, it's over! No more games, how does it feel huh?! Look who's laughing now! Look who's laughing, Pink!" The gem's voice creaks as she grinds her foot to his face and a crash of lightning flashes behind her.

Even as his right eye had wet dirt pressed into it, and his left was nearly fully covered by the heel of the gem, he was able to see it. Passed the rain, and harsh winds, it was there.

Blended in with its surroundings, with only the raindrops hitting it to reveal its inhuman shape. It gave a completely unearthly snarl, that even overpowered the thunder itself. The crazy gem turns at the noise just in time to see the thing reveal itself. It's very skin turning visible right before their eyes.

It was not a gem.

It was a monster.

An Alien. Nothing at all like the gems.

Almost right out of those horror movies that he is still barely able to watch.

Taller than even Garnet. It had long, drooping tendrils that hang from its maw, mantis-like legs extending over its own shoulders, a pair of arms with shagged claws, large hinged legs, sharpen scales along its body, horribly pale warped skin, and merciless blank eyes.

The gem looked at it, and even she looked to be shocked by its sudden appearance. But the shock soon turned to joy of all things. "You're here! One of you actually manages to come in time! This is amazing! I am making them pay just like I-" The gem is met with the back of the creature's claw, flinging her away as it quickly turns its attention towards him.

He reacted as quickly as he could, he used his powers to form his shield in front of him.

The monster shattered through it like glass.

The burning pain at his side and aching of his muscles is nothing compared to the horrible pain of his arm. Half the forearm is bent along his elbow, in such a way that it had never been bent before. He didn't even have the breath to scream as his mind was reeling. All he was able to do was tightly close his eyes as he could feel his arm, as it unnaturally fell limp and the broken bones tore through his skin.

He didn't even notice when he was picked up, or when something was touching his head before a sudden crash was heard. "Steven!" It was Garnet's voice. "Stay away from him you freaky giant flea!" Amethyst's voice came next.

Trying to push off the pain, and the tears in his eyes, Steven opens his eyes just in time to see Garnet was kneeling over him. "Don't move, your arm is- eh! Amethyst!" Garnet quickly turns her head furthered ahead, as a loud 'poof' is heard.

Although it was hard to keep his eyes open, through both the horrible pain and the rain, Steven looked to where Garnet's glasses were trained to. Just in time to watch as the monster held Amethyst gem in its claws and shoved it within its maw.

Even as his mind was flared with pain, and the roaring thunder sounded above. All of them were still able to make out the loud creaking of the gem shattering between the monster's teeth.

* * *

She was a good gem. She really was.

She didn't understand. What happened? What did she do wrong? Was she too rash? Were they actually mad because she ran off? What happened? It was one of her friends. She knew it immediately the moment she saw it.

But friends don't shove each other aside like they were nothing. They don't ignore them, as they are at their biggest moment. She was getting what was hers. She was having her revenge. And the thing came and just threw her aside.

Her body hits one of the large parts of the metal structure, hard enough to dent the already warped shape. She watched as the replacement tried to raise his shield against it. The friend shattered through the shield with a wave of its tail, bending the replacement's arm with a loud creaking noise.

It tries to continue attacking, grabbing at the fake Diamond and holding him towards its face...the tendrils were able to stab into Steven's head. But it was stopped by the Amethyst's whip, which struck it right on it's back.

It barely reacted. Seeming more annoyed than anything as it threw Steven to the floor...hard.

She could see pools of red run down the replacement's face as the Garnet rushed forward and punched the friend away from him. "Steven!" The Garnet shouts as she kneels at his side, the Amethyst rushes to the momentarily dazed creature, her whip at the ready to attack.

"Stay away from him you freaky giant flea!" Those were her last words before Spinel watches as her friend easily rips its claws through her chest, ripping her gem out from her form with ease.

Held it to her to its mouth...and ate her.

It ate her gem.

Even as the liquid fell to cover her eyes, and the wind roared.

Spinel could hear the Amethyst shatter apart as clear as if she were next to it.

She doesn't know how to react, so she just watched as shards of the purple gem fell from the bottom of the friend's face. The fusion screamed at it, rushing towards the beast. The Pearl was heading towards them.

"S-Stop it."

The fusion just manages to roll beneath the friend as it charges forward. She tries to attack it, to overwhelm it with her strength. The friend's tail was enough to slam her back down to the lumpy wet ground.

"I said stop."

"Garnet!" Pink's Pearl screams, rushing closer. The replacement is trying, failing to move.

The friend gave off a strange hissing noise as it threw its long shoulder arms down to the fusion, just barely missing her. The fusion tries to rush pass it, leaping over its head. She tries to run towards the others to join them. "We need to get out of here, we-ah!" She didn't make it.

The friend has several hook-like appendages protruding from its torso, each of them all stabbing into the fusion's back.

"Stop it, please."

The Garnet's body is reeled back towards the friend, and without pause, is skewered by both its large shoulder legs. Her form is easily ripped apart, with two gems falling to the floor. "Garnet, no!" Pink's Pearl screams horribly as she makes it to the replacement's side. Forming another spear in her hand as she stands at the ready, standing between the friend and the fake.

The friend moves, leaping through the air as it is about to stab itself down onto the two.

"I said STOP!"

The friend...is not a friend.

She hits it as hard as she can. Catching it by surprise in mid-air as she enlarges her fist and stretches her hand to smash into its body. Still it landed perfectly on its arched legs. Barely even seeming to acknowledge the hit done to it.

It met their gazes with 6 of it's eyes, but not towards her, not to the replacement, not even to the Pearl. There was nothing behind those eyes. Not a voice, not a thought of its own. Just a blank space of thought, one connected to something more.

It looked at them, with Pink's Pearl at the ready and herself retracting her arm back to normal size.

One moment it is there, the next, its shift scales, and it blends in with its surroundings. Were it not for the liquid falling from the sky, and the lumpy dirt it kicked up as it moved, she wouldn't be able to watch as it ran away.

To see it grabbing one of the gems of the fusion from the ground, as it leapt across the metal scraps of her injector. Leaving her behind, without a second thought to be had.

She wanted to make them pay, but this…

She didn't want this.

The Pearl looks on in disbelief as she holds both her spears, fearfully towards where it ran off. The replacement...Steven is only able to give out a low whimper, as he is starting to cry.

Spinel wanted to blame the liquid pouring down on her, but she felt as if she was crying as well.

**[Hello, thank you for reading the first chapter of this story. I hope you all enjoy it so far. I have fallen in love with the Warhammer 40k series, with my favorite Xenos being the Tyranids, a.k.a The Great devourer. As for why I cross it over with Steven Universe, well because Tyranids won the coin toss between them and Orks. I like to give a lot of credit, towards the Tyranid song " Devourer". Just a great tone-setter for writing this. Also, I want to thank two people for helping me. Andrew78591 and Ooze96. Please leave a review on what you think of it. I would very much like to hear from you. This entire chapter just went through a massive rewrite so I really hope to get some feedback on the changes.]**


	2. Chapter 2

They were gone.

Taken just like that. By some monsters, he didn't even know of it. That he couldn't even fight against. His shield, his arm, broken like nothing.

Amethyst and Garnet were gone. Not just poofed, but gone.

He was nearly killed, and they died to save him. They were murdered because they tried to help him. Amethyst was eaten. Ruby was taken.

And he couldn't even move to stop it from happening. Just lay in the sand, crying over his broken arm. Pearl had to act as a guard, letting it run away. Letting it take away their friend.

She carried him back home. Took him right back into the bathroom, and used what's left of the fountain's water to heal him.

The monster not only broke his arm, but it also tried to do something to his head.

He didn't know what but it made the top of his headache and blood leak down to his eyes.

He lost a lot of blood. Didn't help him think.

He remembers wailing at Pearl. Telling her they have to go back. That they had to follow the monster.

That maybe Amethyst and Ruby were just in its stomach. They could make it vomit them out. Pearl didn't say anything. She just brought him home and told him to stay in the bathroom after she healed him.

It was stupid. But he hoped for it. A silly idea.

When it continued to dawn on him, he just sat on the floor. Crying till his voice becomes hollow and it hurts to breathe.

Sleep didn't take him, it robbed him. Robbed him of the little bits of safety he could think of, as his mind replays the nightmare again. With how things felt, the rain, the wet sand under him, the feeling of his arm bending in itself. Seeing the creature, that living nightmare...

When he woke up, he was still in the bathroom. Wet and dirty from the fight outside, his arm aching in pain, drops of his own blood his shirt.

He doesn't even get a chance to humor himself, even for a moment, to think it was maybe a dream. That it was a nightmare and he was just tired from a fight, so much so he slumped himself against a wall in the bathroom. That things were okay.

Because he wasn't alone. She was there.

The gem, the 'Spinel' was there. She was standing over him, watching, staring at him. Still, as a statue, there was no movement on her. Not even breathing.

She gave no reaction to him waking up. Keeping an emotionless look on her face, that gave no hint of her intentions. Her hands are interlocked together in front of her. Her form was less stretched out, standing shorter than he would.

She wasn't sad, she wasn't angry anymore. She was just there, watching him. Like a doll.

Steven blinks his eyes as he looks back to the gem. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to be able to scream. To yell at her. But his throat is just dry. He can only give out a shudder of breath as he wipes his tears that already reformed in his eyes. Even healed, it hurt to even move his arm. It hurt even more as his mind drifts to other things. "W-Why are you here?" He coughs out, trying to ignore the pain. Trying to focus himself on what was happening, so he could mourn later.

"I don't know." Her voice was just above a whisper. Not moving an inch from where she stood. It was unnerving for the boy how she was acting, after seeing so loud and erratic she was before. Something was wrong with her, he could tell. She was hurt.

He catches himself pleased at the thought and is disgusted by it. Even if she fought them, she didn't deserve that kind of thinking. No one did.

Tears come again, he can feel them trail down his face. "That thing. What was it?" The monster that took his family away.

"I don't know. It's my...I thought it was my friend." She tells him back, as her eyes shift to the left a bit. Ashamed. He tries to raise his voice to her. "Your friend? It...it shattered Amethyst. It took Ruby!" His voice creaks, yet he wasn't shouting. He was just sobbing. With the gem just nodding back to him, Steven tries to pick himself up to his feet, wiping his tears away as he does.

"Say something."

"Something."

Even as he stood up, standing taller than her, she didn't look the least bit phased. Her eyes are the only thing that moved as she kept her pupils on him. "Come on. You have to say more than that!" His voice bellows, the small bathroom they were in helped to amplify his voice. Made him sound tougher, something to be taken seriously.

The gem's reply was blunt, without the least bit of care. "More than that." The shrug of her shoulders just adds to it. He is willing to admit it. He lost his temper.

Grabbing her shoulders, he throttles her back and forward as he raises his voice more. Yelling to her face. "Stop that, take this seriously! Gems are dead! My friends are dead! Gone!" When he stops for an answer, he gets little reaction from her.

She just continues her blank stare. "You're the one that wanted to play this game." She still does nothing. Keeping her hands locked in front of her, keeping her numb tone. He expected, hope really for some reaction, even a violent one if it just meant something. But she just didn't seem to care enough to give him one.

"Ga-Game? I'm not playing any games. Please, just tell me why did you come here?"

"Because of a game. One where I lost."

"I don't understand what you mean!"

"That's right. You don't."

The more he tried to speak to her, the more he felt he was just talking to a wall. He tries to calm himself down. Trying to steady his breathing as he lets go of her shoulders and backs himself away from her. "Spinel, right? Please, why are my friends gone? That's all I am asking for, just please." He begs, holding his hands together in prayer, pleading to her with a shaky breath. He'd fall to his knees if he needed to. He needs to know, and as far as he knows only she had some idea of it. Of the monster.

There is little response though.

"Because I wanted to play one more game, and they were hungry." That did nothing to help. He runs his hands over his face as his frustration just grows. Taking a moment to breathe in deeply, he asks. "Who is 'they' Spinel, do you mean that thing that attacked me, that took away my friends? As in more than one of them?"

The idea that there were more of those monsters. It was enough to make Steven's stomach turn inward.

He tries to shut the idea down. Thinking that it can't be true. He would have heard of it. Either the gems or the government officials he knows would have told him something. He even got into the infamous area 51 sight to find that it was just a normal airbase, that had old gem stuff laying around. Pearl had told him how Homeworld had wiped out most intelligent or intergalactic races in the known galaxy. There was no way there were more of these monsters.

But Spinel's words put away all sorts of doubt in that mindset. Spoken in that eerie, uncaring tone, made it have weight. Made it sound just too grimdark and true.

"Yes. Many, many, more."

He isn't even able to wrap his mind around it for more than a moment as suddenly music plays out near them. It was so sudden the gem-hybrid nearly fell backward into the bathtub.

"-rive a van into your heart. Let me drive my van into your heart-" It was from a phone, his own, which was left on the nearby sink. It must have been taken out of his pocket without him realizing it at some point.

And the ringtone meant that it was his dad.

He rushes passes the confused looking Spinel and takes the phone off the sink. When he answers it, a familiar voice calls out in a panic. Filled with fear and worry that only a parent could have.

"Steven?! You there, hello? Son?!"

It was hard to make out what he said, as there was a lot of noise on his end of the line. The sounds of people, and things being shoved around. It was loud, invasive. It could only be described as pure chaos.

But still, even if barely, hearing his father made Steven's heart swell. The boy is only able to give out a weak whimper before he falls to tears again.

His father tries to talk to him, ask if he was okay. But Steven just began to babble to him. Saying how sorry he was. That it was his fault for what happened. That he should have been better.

He sobs and wails, like a sick animal. The words falling out of his mouth as an incomprehensible mess. But Greg did his job as a father and listened to each and every word of it. Keeping silent as Steven told him every single thing that happened. Be it the injector, the gem that attacked, the monster, and what happened to Garnet and Amethyst.

"Schtu-ball, I'm sorry." Greg's voice becomes more clear, the noise on the other end of the line being still there, but seemed to be lowering as Steven can hear the phone being moved around. "I'm so, so sorry that you, that Pearl, that any of you, god I…" His voice was hesitant as he stops himself to take a shudder of a breath. Takin the news as told by his son. "I'm so sorry Steven. I'm so sorry."

There isn't much to say. But Greg still speaks out. Trying to grab Steven's attention, to try and keep his mind on other things for the moment.

"Steven, son, I wish I could be there with you so much right now." Steven hears the sound of a door being closed, making all the background noise faint. His father's voice is now completely clear, as he could be heard coughing slightly.

"I'm at the hospital. After something hit the city, I was trying to do some help. I just bought anyone that I could find here. The storm really didn't help with stuff. A lot of people hurt, some gems too." Greg's voice falls to mumbling, with Steven tightening his grip on the phone.

With what happened with the monster, the boy almost forgot all about Beach City. He seats himself on the edge of the bathtub and runs his hand through his hair. Holding in a whine of frustration.

He is a diamond. He is supposed to be there, not held in a bathroom of all places. Already he can imagine how all the gems in Little Homeschool are panicking. If they saw something crash into the city, then they might assume the worst.

"Steven, where are you?" Greg helps him take his mind off those thoughts for a moment. Allowing Steven a moment to collect himself, as he tells his father says. "I'm in the bathroom at home. Pearl told me this was the best place to stay safe for now. The door to the gem's rooms is broken. Most of the windows out front are broken too."

"How is Sapphire holding up?" Steven pulls his face from the phone, letting it tap against his forehead as such a simple question was enough to horrify him.

Realizing he didn't even think about her this whole time. How would the gem react as her other half is gone? Would she even know that Ruby was taken? Did she know such a thing would happen with her future vision?

Pearl had grabbed her gem when she carried him home. She could have reformed and was mourning and he wouldn't even know because he fell asleep.

The lack of response seemed to be enough for Greg. "It's okay to not know, son. This is some really heavy stuff. For everyone. I think Pearl was right to leave you somewhere safe, at least till morning. The storm is calming down a lot but things are still hectic you know. And it just seems to keep getting worse." Steven hears the crackle of the phone being moved, as Greg gives a small groan.

"Dad?" Steven calls out, already fearing the worst. He had lost Amethyst and Garnet. Not him too, surely not him too.

Greg's voice was hesitant and seemed to be out of breath. "It's okay, just hit my arm on the door is all. Can you just tell me if you're safe? Are you alone? Is Pearl there?" If there was one thing Steven has gotten good with over the years, it was knowing when someone was keeping something from him. He wanted to yell at his dad, to demand an answer. But he doesn't.

It was not the time for that. Greg's voice held pain, and fear. Not for himself but for his son. He was too soft to not sound confident. Too loving to lie to his son.

He just tells the boy what he needs to hear. So Steven does the same. "I'm not alone. I have..." There is a small pause as Steven looks to Spinel, who hasn't moved an inch since he began to talk to his father. She wasn't fighting him anymore, but he is still on edge with her. The monster attacked her too, but it doesn't mean they were friends yet.

But if it could ease his father, what was the harm.

He doesn't break eye-contact with her, as he tells a lie to his father. "I'm with a friend, dad. You don't have to worry about me right now." The moment the word left his mouth, he was given something. A reaction from the gem.

Steven watched as her eyes had widened, her arms pulled apart and fell limp at her sides, her mouth was left ajar. In an instant, at a single six-letter word, she went from stoic to in awe.

He isn't able to give her much attention as he hears sounds from the other end of the phone.

A door opened and a lot of shouting started to happen between Greg and someone that walked in. From the voice, Steven could make it out to be Connie's mother. She told Greg he was supposed to be resting, and not hiding in a closet. He was telling her that he needed to make a call. Then she must have spotted the phone.

Steven had to pull his phone away from his face as the crackling of the phone being thrashed around a lot assaults his ear. He is barely able to make out the two voices as they were yelling at each other. It was hard to hear about what exactly, he does manage to make out one thing though.

"-uld heal Conn-"

About three words, one of which being the unmistakable name of his friend, and the word, heal.

But he is unable to make out any more, as the phone is slapped out of his hand, and thrown to the wall with such force the plastic shell and glass shatter has apart. Making it impossible to use.

He doesn't get any time to react, as the gem throws herself into him. Forcing Steven to fall backward into the bathtub, as she was grappling him. "What did you call me?! You called ME your friend?!" Spinel shouts, gripping the front of Steven's shirt, pressing his face against hers.

Her attitude had changed, back to the fight. A wild unhinged look was in her eyes as she was squeezing, and digging her fingers into him. Speaking in the same intensity of voice, where she stressed each other word. "Ohhh, that's just GOODY-goody! Well then, what we gonna do, huh? Play GAMES, spend all our time together!? Huh?! Isn't that what FRIENDS do?" Her arms stretched and contorted around his body, tightening on every available inch they could find.

Steven gives out a hollow wheeze, as he tries to cough out a word. Filling his body slowly being crushed.

Spinel was giving him no space, as he tries to pull himself free, she would push herself closer.

He could feel her mouth moving against his cheek as she shouts even more. No thought at all for personal space, as her teeth brushed against his skin, threatening to tear into him. "Wai-"

"Wait? What do YOU know about waiting? Is someone making you WAIT!? Are they? Huh!?" Spinel's voice continues to grow more intense as she pushes herself into him, almost crushing the hybrid as he can feel his face smudged against the tube's walls and hers. Her arms just stretched to a point that they could fully wrap around him, while the hands themselves, had moved up to grip at his throat, beginning to strangle him on the spot.

He tries to groan out to her. But only manages to spit out an intelligible choking mess. "Say something! SAY SOMETHING! Stop acting silly and just TELL me what do you mean by fr-" The bathtub burst apart, and Spinel is sent through the bathroom door as Steven form a bubble around himself, desperately gasping for air.

He wheezes, greedily sucking in much-needed air. His lungs burning as they try to take in the squeezed out air back in themselves. He is nearly thrown back onto his back again, as Spinel is back on him again, running towards the bubble and colliding against it with her body.

Her voice slightly muffled, but he can still make out her yelling at him, with each time she moves to attack the bubble.

She yelled at him for calling her a friend and about games, and fun, and waiting. He couldn't understand it.

She wasn't the first unstable gems he's met, not by a long shot. He knows what he is supposed to do. That he just needs to find a way to calm her down, that they could talk and settle any issue she has.

Unfortunately, he did not have the time and was in no mood to play therapist right now. Amethyst is gone. Ruby is gone. Garnet is gone. His dad was in the hospital. A large unknown number of people and gems were hurt and needed his help.

Including Connie.

He can't just sit down and talk, for now, he cannot just take the time needed to help just one gem. He needed to just focus. Think now, feel later. People needed him.

"-ut SURE, I could just pal around. Be your buddy! We could just laze around, play a little game of scythe just like I used to with Pi-"

Spinel's ranting came to a stop as Steven unforms his bubble. It stopped her for a moment and gave Steven a window to act.

"Spinel, that is enough!" He shouts as loud as he is able, rushing over the broken remains of the bathtub towards the gem he grasps the wrist of her hands and forces her to lower them. He spoke in a berating tone, lashing out at her like he had seen done by Yellow Diamond to her gems.

It was enough to make the Spinel stop struggling against him. "Whatever you have to say, whatever you are going through, can wait! I do not have the time to be dealing with this! I have to get to the hospital. There are people there I can help, gems too." At the mention of other gems, Steven could feel the gem flinch in his hold. She turned her head away from him, as her face tilted to the floor. Ashamed.

"Please just let me go there. And then we can settle whatever you have an issue with me I swear." Spinel's stance changes. Her shoulders had lowered, her arms were returning to normal length, and she gives Steven a look.

A look Steven could only be described as hurt. Not physically, but hurt in more ways than he could imagine. The kind of hurt that comes from having no options. From being alone and scared. He shouldn't do this, but the boy cannot hold himself. He's seen that look too many times on others.

"If you want you can come with me, okay?"

Such a simple offer, and yet it seemed as if he offered the world to her. A look of awe came once more to the pink gem, true awe this time.

"You want me to come with?" She stutters, before rapidly nodding her head. She was so happy. So very happy for such a little thing, and only made Steven worry for her more. Made him want to know why she was so hurt.

But there was no time for that. He was needed at the hospital. And he was going to fix this.

* * *

A new friend. A new friend. A new friend.

That was what's happening. He has become her new friend, and he is leaving, just like she did, except he is taking her with him. He is taking her with him. He is not like Pink, he is a good friend, a best friend.

She was smiling. Spinel could feel herself smiling as she is walking with him out the small room to the larger broken more broken room.

She watches every step he takes, and limb he moves as he looks around the room. He is the replacement, but a good replacement, better than Pink, way better than her.

He was surveying the room around them, with a worried glance in his eyes. "Where's Pearl? Last I remember she and I were arguing. Where did she go?!" He turns to her as if to expect an answer. Afraid for Pink's Pearl, his Pearl.

A good friend would tell him what they know. So Spinel does. "I don't know. She left a while ago, said something about talking to the other diamonds and telling them what was going on. Heard her and someone else screaming. A lot of crying too." She watches as Steven runs a hand over his face, rubbing at his eyes.

He mumbles something under his breath as he walks along with the wreckage of the room, stepping over broken glass and broken flooring as he moved aside some wreckage. Finding a thin sheet, and a stick, he begins to write down onto them.

"Okay, I'll write her something, that I'm heading out to-" Out. Outside. No, that's not good. The Xeno was out there. It hurt him, it shattered the gem, took the other. It'll hurt him, make him go away just like Pink did. But worst.

"It's still out there." Spinel tells him as plainly as she could. The Xeno was out. Inside the place would be safe, she could keep her new friend. Outside she could lose him.

He knows she is right. She sees it as it stops all his movement. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Her friend or who she thought was her friend was out. It would take him, just as it did the others.

But the replacement, Steven, only stops for a moment before he finishes writing something down. "I can't stay here. They need me at the hospital." Spinal wanted to ask him what a hospital was but holds back as she continues to watch him.

She can still feel them. Nothing has changed. They want to eat, they want to expand. The desire is still there and is only ever growing with each passing moment. Even after attacking one of them, it proved to be nothing. They didn't care about her. They never did.

But he does. He cares for a lot of things.

"I don't know why it attacked us, but if it shows up again then I'll fight it. I have to." He tried to look brave, but his shoulders were shaking, his eyes looked glossy and the liquid was starting to form on his forehead. He is afraid.

Spinel holds her hands to her waist, as she tilts her head towards the replacement. "That's stupid. You'll shatter, just like the other two." He stops moving again. Dropping the stick he was using to write, as he sinks his head down along his shoulders.

He cares too much. She was being mean, but he cares too much.

"I have too." He whispers back. "I just have to fix this." He gives her a look. One that is nothing like any Pink would give. A look that just spoke louder than his own words. Just how much he cared for his friends.

He ran. She followed.

It was a long trip, with much to see.

They ran through wreckages, through roads that have been craved open, through lakes of bright pink fluid. And noise. Lots of noise.

Spinel saw other humans. Other gems. Trying to look for others that were buried beneath the collapsed buildings. They barely acknowledge her or Steven as they ran by them. Too focused on their own work. There were fires, screaming, large black clouds everywhere she looked. So much pain, far as she could see.

All her own doing.

She didn't want this.

They ran, and ran more.

When they arrived at the hospital, it was filled with humans. And their noise.

She saw many humans out in the streets and broken buildings, but there were so many more of them here. Several of which were constantly running about, wearing white coats, or colorful suits. Those that didn't just stood around or sat in chairs. Many of them were crying. Tall ones were holding the little ones, with looks of dread on their faces. Some had red stains on their clothing and smelled awful. The little ones looked lost, asking questions at a near-constant for something called parents or families. They were all scared. All trying to talk over each other to each other.

So much shouting, and running about. Tools being moved around, chairs scraping against the floor, loud sobbing.

Gems were around, trying to fix much of the broken glass entrance, and also trying to help those that they could. Helping others find their groups to the right places for treatments. Keeping them from rushing off, and staying in their spots.

It was too much to see at once. All of them suffering, all of them pleading for something. Wanting their pain to end, wanting their families.

She didn't want this, she couldn't.

Spinel could feel her form shrink a bit as she tries to follow Steven through the humans. He rushed up to a large cover, where a human was hiding behind, talking to pieces of plastic on a cord as she was frantically typing on a large keypad.

As Steven was talking to her, shouting his voice to be heard over the mass of others, Spinel lets her eyes wander around, taking it all in once more. Hearing the organics wailing. Watching as they were suffering right before her. It hurt. It hurt her. Made her gem ache. Her mind itch.

Spinel holds her hands to either side of her head as she tries to block it out the noise. It was too much. Way too much. She didn't want this. She didn't want it. All she wanted to do was to play a game that she wins.

This is not winning.

Even through all this noise, she can feel them. The Xenos.

Something was happening. She can feel them. She can hear them, she can see them. They were near, and getting noise with each moment. Growing and nurturing themselves. Festering they all thought as one mind, to one goal.

Creeping through the stillness, it shrouds them, the silence. They're awakening, they're stalking, enduring, painstaking. They're amalgamating, they're galling, the massacre's calling.

The swarm is now rising.

Spinel snaps her eyes across the room. Through the many humans, and gems. Through the broken glass entrance of the hospital. Through all the noise and many broken buildings, she can see it. The Xeno was there, the very same that attacked her.

It was not alone. There was another.

It was bigger than the one that attacked her. Had more eyes, the tendrils down its face more along an angle. And it was looking back towards her.

Spinel stares back at it. Unblinking as she tries to make sense of what they will do next, what they want. But all they want just continues to be the same. They want to feed. To accept more within themselves. Her fingers dig more into her own face, as her form was beginning to shake uncontrollably. The noise.

The noise of crying, shouting, of those shoving others out of the way as they keep moving. Sometimes breaking her line of sight to the Xenos. They just kept on, making it harder and harder for her to see, to think. She was a good gem. Her friend took her somewhere, and they were making too much noise. Just like the Xenos were. Just as they went on and on about their hunger, all the humans whined about was their pain, their sadness.

All noise. Just loud noises.

She isn't able to think, her mind feels as if it's pulsating, the itch growing. When she gets a clear view, the Xenos weren't there anymore. The noise is overwhelming.

And she screams as loud as her form would ever allow her.

* * *

The hospital room is quiet.

Filled only with the sounds of a heart monitor, and a ventilator. There ain't any warm colors to be had, no get well soon cards to be given. Just a bitter reality of the situation, with the sound of busy work barely muffled by the thin walls the room provided. The space they gave her was small, as it seems to be more fit for a closet than an actual room.

It was not like there was much choice to be given. The hospital was packed, with each room seeming to store up to three people or more within it, with families and more. It must have been hours after the impact of the injector, yet panic did not set down one bit.

This small room was all they could give her. Some little space that had barely a room for a bed, and chairs. A window with a view of just the streets below.

She didn't deserve this just as much didn't deserve to be forced to watch her like this.

On the bed was his best friend, the first friend he made. His jam bud.

And here she was, lying still on a bed. Her only movement was her chest, as it rose up and fell with every breath. The only real visible sign she gave for being alive.

Her body was broken.

Steven is unable to find the list of the things that had happened to her, the treatments the doctors used to keep her alive. All he saw was the final result.

Bandaging covered her, from her head to chest, to arms, to leg. Each had some spot to cover. Less more to stop the bleeding, more to cover up the surgical scars. The evidence of that could be seen most of all in her hands.

Stitched and messed together with needle-like pins sticking out of them. Steven had to hold himself from vomiting as he can see how the skin was morphed over the fingernails or forced them to be pushed outward.

The most notable damage to her was the lack of her left leg. Severed from the thigh down, the limb was completely removed. Taken from her.

She is not dead, but she has been so close.

When he asked what had happened, he was told that she was near a building when the injector crashed into the city. An entire section of a building, the whole outside wall collapsed right on top of Connie.

Just as soon as they had tried to dig her out, the rain came down on them. It was over two hours before they managed to get her free and deliver her to a hospital.

It was a miracle for her to be alive.

Her ribs had collapsed inward, stone and rebar had stabbed into her. Her left leg was very much crushed and had to be amputated.

They couldn't even keep her awake for him to talk to her. The poor girl was put into a medically induced coma. Just a bit of spit would be enough, he could fix her. He was sure of it.

The doctors literally held him back from doing so. They knew he could heal but strongly advised against it. With how busy the hospital was right now, they simply didn't have the people to help her with the trauma she just went through.

Here she was with most of her bones broken and missing a leg. Her buried under rubble for so long, it's possible that it left more than physical scars. Her waking up could lead to her panicking and possibly hurt herself.

It was better to keep her asleep for now, as much as Steven hated it. He hated very few things, but this was one of them. Not being able to help, forced to just sit back and do nothing.

First the city, the gems, now Connie. He doesn't know if he could take any more of this. Amethyst and Ruby are gone and he can't even process it, as just more things come to him. So many hurt, so many things he is afraid to look to. How many more were hurt? How many more are dead? Then there is that monster that attacked him. What if it was attacking others. Gems and humans alike. Suffering as he wasn't able to stop it.

A small tug on his other hand takes him out of those dark thoughts. It was Spinel's doing.

She was sitting down next to him in her own chair, his hand was held in both of hers.

The gem had a panic attack earlier when he was trying to check-in at the front desk. Screaming at everyone to shut up, trying to give herself space in the crowded room, yelling about a swarm. The poor thing collapsed on the floor, seeming barely able to breathe.

He did have to thank her. As it was enough to quiet the room enough for him to ask the desk for Connie. When he was told, he offered the gem a hand, and she took it and has not let go of him since. Gripping his hand tightly towards her own gem. Very unlike her usual behavior, there were no outbursts or attitude to her now, just timidness. She was scared and clutching onto him like he was her lifeline.

He didn't know why. Even when he tried to ask what caused her to scream, she didn't give much of a response. "Noise, so much noise. The noise of the swarm. The itching." She would whisper as she tightens her hold on his hand, as she pushes it more into her gem.

Steven had just nodded his head at her. Barely understanding, but willing to try and make her comfortable as best he can. When they came into the room, he was horrified by Connie's condition. Spinel was helping him without realizing it. Acting as his anchor for him, and helping him focus.

His attention is taken away from the gem as Connie's father, Doug, comes into the room. "Hey, I got you guys stuff from the snack machine. Again." He says, trying to give the two of them a smile as he enters the room. There were several bags and cans in his arms, all huddled on top of one another. Shuffling across the room, Doug places the food and drinks on the serving table by the bed, before he moves to sit down in his own chair by the door.

It was more for him then it was for Steven. The original pile he had first gotten them was already on the table, bow he doubled it. It was now the second time he left the room.

The second time he came in holding a bunch of food and drinks. The second time he came in here feeling of smoke, and his red from eyeing. He didn't even bother to hide the pack of cigarettes in his coat pocket. Steven couldn't even work the nerve to joke about it.

The poor man was obviously exhausted, more so than Steven could possibly imagine. Having been here for hours now, being forced to sit there and watch his daughter waste away before him.

When Steven first came into the room the man hugged him so tightly, looking so happy. Only for his hope to be shattered as Steven tells him he couldn't cure her. Not yet at least.

Doug had to leave right after. He'd come back, tears still in his eyes, smelling of smoke, and bringing food, possibly from a snack machine.

With it being the second time he's done such a thing, Steven wanted to tell him, he didn't need to make a third trip.

But the words just die on his lips. He couldn't bring himself to didn't say anything, just watches as Doug just seems to fall apart right in front of his eyes.

"I got a bit too much, huh." Steven watches as Doug runs a hand over his glasses and face as he sits down on a chair by the door, looking off to the side as he tries to collect himself.

He tries to tell the man it's okay, but Doug ignores him. Seeming to drift off into his own world. His eyes locked onto his sleeping daughter.

This wasn't right. It wasn't fair.

So much was happening, too fast for Steven to possibly keep up with. Doug told him how Greg and Priyanka were on the first floor of the hospital, around the back area. Connie's mother, Priyanka, was helping patients there. Greg's arm was being treated.

When the injector crashed, he was hit by the pink ooze that rained down the city. Just his arm, but it was enough to numb the entire limb, badly damaging the muscles and nerves in it. But he was alive, and that's what matters.

Connie's mother was working. With all the people hurt, all hands were needed. The whole hospital was overpacked, and her being a doctor was needed more than her as a mother.

Steven could understand why, with everything happening, she probably felt she had to do something. But he also knew she must be a worried wreck about Connie. Remember exactly how she sounded over the phone.

He wanted to go to them to see how they were doing. He isn't able to help Connie, but maybe he could help his dad, maybe the other people too.

But upon seeing Connie, he just couldn't bring himself to leave her. Not when she was so defenseless.

Just like a gem when they are poofed.

Perhaps he was being paranoid, but there was a small part of him that couldn't help but feel that he was being watched, even now. Looking out the windows, all he sees is the city.

Places, where buildings fell inward, gave him a wide view. Not many hiding spots to be seen. But the thing that worried him, didn't need to try hard to hide. It could be anywhere. It could be right outside the window, in the room, and he wouldn't be able to tell.

Not until it is too late.

He's startled as he sees something suddenly move into his vision, assuming the worst, as his shield forms out of sheer reflex.

Only to find it is a hand stretched in front of him. Holding a bag of chips. A timid voice follows with a simple question. "What's this?"

For the first time, Steven is truly grateful to the gem. He needed a distraction, something to help him from thinking.

* * *

The crunching echoes within Spinel's own head as the thin salty chip enters her mouth and rendered to mush underneath the pressing of her teeth.

Eating. Food. Taste.

A lot of new things at once, that Spinel didn't even know how to deal with. But Steven was patient enough to walk through it all. Showing her how it was done.

Bite, chew, swallow, repeat.

It was meant to be done when hungry, but since gems didn't feel such a thing, it wasn't needed. It was for fun, to enjoy herself. When Spinel had bitten into the first 'chip' she was shocked by the idea of taste and immediately started eating more of them.

Though that ended poorly as she wasn't able to fully grasp how swallowing was done. No matter how much her Steven tried to explain it, Spinel couldn't understand such things as the words throat, and stomach.

The solution was that she kept a small cylinder near her called a trash can. Once the flavor was gone from whatever she was chewing on, she could spit out the content and just simply grab another piece to enjoy.

A similar idea came when it comes to small containers of liquid, called drinks. Taking an amount and enjoying it's exotic, bubbly taste as it slush in her mouth before spitting it out. To Spinel this was an entirely fun new game, to experience this sense she didn't know she had.

She also takes in what her Steven told her of hunger. What it is, how it feels. She knew it existed, knew that organic beings needed it, but that was it. Looking at the empty bag in her hand, she wondered if that was what the Xenos wanted.

Food.

They were hungry. So very hungry. And that is all that they wanted. More and more to feast on. More to consume. There were so many, and they needed so much food. Trillions and trillions of bodies.

All wanting food, all wanting to eat.

The echoing of a gem shattered courses in Spinel's head. Remembering how she saw the Amethyst eaten right before her.

The bag in her hand is tightly clutch, as Spinel comes to realize it will not stop there. She remembers 'Biggie'. The planet that hung above her head for thousands of years. So lush and green. How barren it was when she awoke.

No green. No life.

Not even an atmosphere.

Everything was gone. Devoured. Leaving nothing but a large hollow rock.

And now they were here on this nowhere planet, filled with gems and her Steven. The dark thoughts come in once more, telling her how pointless it is. That they were gonna eat everything. Everyone. She would be shattered at best, at worst, be left behind once more.

She is able to hold back a whimper, as she drops the empty bag and grabs at her own head. The itching never left, if anything it was getting worse. Less than itch, more like something was in her head, crawling and thrashing its way through her mind.

She turns to him, to her Steven, for a distraction. Watching as he continued to stare at the human that was laying down. He told her that she was sleeping. An act that organic beings need to recharge themselves. He seemed saddened, ever since they came to this room he has been so.

She hears the sound of the taller human leaving the room. The third time he has done so. Every time he did, he would return with more snacks, so Spinel didn't mind.

"You said she was hurt, right? By what?" She honestly couldn't care less for the human, but she wanted to hear him speak. Which he does as he explains to her, what had happened to the human, and the city itself.

Something came from the sky. It crashed into the mountain and parts of it hit everywhere because of it, along with a pink ooze. Many humans, including the one before them called Connie, were hurt by it.

"Pearl told me that it seemed to be a large injector. One that came from the sky somehow. It crashed right into the cliff and-" Steven is stopped as Spinel speaks up for him. Seeing how confused he was, at the idea.

"Oh, you mean my injector."

That was when he turned to face her, his eyes slowly widening as a look of realization crossed his face. Mistaking it for awe, Spinel continued speaking, to make it more clear for him. "Yeah, I flew it here with the ones that I thought were my friends." Steven mumbles something under his breath that Spinel could barely make out, but does answer it. "Yes. The one that shattered-"

It was her turn to be stopped as Steven stands up from the chair, ripping his hand out from Spinel's hold. The look on his face showed he was appalled, horrified. "Y-You did this? You brought them?" Spinel didn't understand, why was he acting like this. She was answering his questions as a friend should.

She nodded her head at him, thinking it would calm him. It didn't.

He raises his voice and shouts at her. "Why!? Why did you do this to us!? Ruby and Amethyst are gone, they are gone because of you!" She looks down in response. Knowing that in a way, it was true. But this isn't what she wanted.

She wanted to make Pink and her new friends pay. To get back at them. She didn't mean for things to happen as they did.

Now she made her friend angry. Now she's made him feel hurt and he continued to shout at her, mainly about his 'family' being taken. About his home being torn apart. Always asking why.

Why?

Spinel hated the word. For over 6000 years she's asked it to herself over and over again. Never getting an answer. Why should he get his? Why should he be the one getting mad?

She speaks over his voice, as she stands up and gives him her own glare. "Because I wanted to play another game and win for once." She tells him, watching as he grits his teeth and his face contorts in frustration.

"I don't understand you!" He steps closer to her, raising his hands up to grip at his own hair. "You mentioned my mom, and Pearl even knew who you were, but that doesn't mean I know anything! Just tell me what happened!"

Would he attack her, shatter her? It didn't matter. She didn't matter. For so many lonely years, nothing mattered. "Are you feeling lost, confused, that things are unfair. Try feeling that for 6000 years, and maybe I'll tell you." She scoffs off as she crosses her arms over her gem, and turns her head away from the hybrid.

Becoming sick of looking at him, the replacement.

She can feel his stare as the room grows quiet again. With only the sound of the from the still sleeping Connie. Spinel waits for it. A sign that the replacement is gonna put up a fight. So they could continue the game they were playing when she first met him. She could beat him, she could win this time without being interrupted.

When she hears Steven finally move, Spinel turned her body to face him again with a raised fist and meet him mid-strike. To finally win.

Only to see that he didn't move towards her at all. Instead, he had just grabbed his chair and pulled it away from her, from the spot where they sat next to each other, and more towards the sleeping human, Connie.

Without a word, he just sits back down in the chair. Refusing to even look at Spinel anymore as he holds his head in his hands.

The room is quiet as he ignores her. Ignored the game.

Spinel lets her fist drop but doesn't move yet. She stares at him. The replacement. She hates him, she despises him.

The itching is still there, and it gets worse. She can almost hear it now. A low buzzy sound.

Spinel sits back in her seat and focuses on ignoring it. The taller human comes back with more snacks.

She doesn't feel like eating anymore.

* * *

Time passes before Doug leaves the room again.

This time he does it because he recognizes a doctor that rushed by room. Steven doesn't know what to do. Spinel kept making a habit of revealing things to him. Dreadful things.

He hated not knowing things. Be it just because of secrets or even how to react to them.

Spinel brought those monsters to his home. She wrecked his town. Hurting so many. But what is he gonna do exactly? Poofing her and then placing her in a bubble seemed like the right choice, but how? She has already proven to be actually better at fighting than him, having faced him and the gems together without one of them laying a hand on her. What hope did he have alone?

It would only end poorly for him. Especially with him doing it here in a hospital, with so many people already suffering.

Fighting was out of the question. Talking to her more, only made the gem more unstable at times. With her acting one way a moment and then changing at the drop of a hat.

Ruby, Garnet, and Amethyst are gone. And she wouldn't even tell him why. Always just referring it as a game of some kind.

Taking a glance, he sees she was standing. Looking out the window, as rain drizzled on it. He tries to figure her out. Trying to focus on what he knows of the gem.

Something happened to her. She came to earth on the injector. It crashed. Somehow she was friends with the monster that attacked them. Although that might not really be the case as Steven remembers how she was smack aside. How it attacked her.

Was she tricked? Lied to? Is that what's wrong? What did it have to do with his mom is the thing.

He tried to imagine it, but he was trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces. He had to take a risk if he needed things to become clearer.

"Spinel?" He calls out to her. Getting a very irritated grumble thrown back as she snaps her head in his direction. "Did you do this on purpose? Did you mean to hurt all those people? To fight us? To have Garnet and Amethyst…" His voice choked, and he had to hold himself back from slamming his own fist into his thigh, in frustration. How the words die on his lips. He hated to think they were gone, but he couldn't let that hold him. Not now.

He looks at Spinel. Watching as she turned to look back out the window. She seemed conflicted for a moment, as her face changes expression, seeming to go through several emotions at once.

"I didn't...I..." She mumbles out, before becoming quiet. Raising her hands up, she begins to tug at her pigtails. She whispers something under her breath, as her arms had rubbery sagged to the floor, but the hands continue to grip her hair.

He knew it was dangerous, and yet he pushed on. Needing something. "Spinel, please just tell me the plan. Whatever you or those monsters came up with-"

"Plan?" That is when her mood changed again. Her hands fall limp to the floor, as she turns her head towards him. A timid look returning to her face. Her eyes quivered, her bottom lip twitch.

She was scared.

He tries not to rush, as it seems he can finally get somewhere. "Yeah, a plan. You said you were friends with that thing, that there were many of them. What was the plan then?" He asks, turning on his seat to face her.

Spinel glances away from him in turn. It took but a whole minute of silence before a look dawns on her face, one of horror. "I didn't have one."

Using the back of the chair as support, Steven pushes himself to his feet as he raises his voice to her. "What do you mean you didn't have a plan?! I…" He stops himself, taking a moment to take a deep breath and lower his voice back down. Knowing where yelling would lead. "Spinel, you told me you came with those things, please just tell me what you can-"

He is stopped again, but not by himself this time. Doug comes back into the room. "Steven, I need to talk to you!" The man shouts while he is gasping for breath.

Before Steven could ask him what is wrong, the man races towards him, slapping his hands onto the teen's shoulders. "Priyanka was hurt, she was hurt bad! I don't know how but people are panicking! She's in surgery right now, and-" His words just kept on, rapidly speaking in a strutting mess.

He looked ill.

As if he was gonna vomit at any moment. Sweat was rushing down his head, yet he was shriving. He was so out of breath, Steven had to hold his arms out of fear the man would collapse right on the spot.

Doug was clearly desperate for help. His glasses had fallen from his face and was crying. Intelligible sobs choking from his throat as he tries to speak more. "-I can't lose her too, Steven, god please, my family why! Why my family, please god-"

Steven knows exactly what the man is feeling. And he knew he could help, but then comes the thought of Connie.

He looks to her, seeing her still defenseless form. He couldn't leave her, not like this. Not when literally monsters are out.

It was selfish and terrible. He shouldn't have such thoughts yet he was scared. Scared to leave her, to have her with nothing to keep her safe.

But what was he to do, as he held her father's sobbing form? What was it about the many other people that he could heal? He has to make a choice, for the greater good of all times, as hard as it may be.

Just then his eyes wander, to the one other person in the room. Spinel was still standing up, holding herself. Biting down on one finger of her hand, as the other gripped at her pigtail. She was panicking, nowhere near the right mindset. But she was all he had.

The words fall out of his mouth, more of a fumble than anything else. Very much a miracle that it even came out at all. "Spinel, I need you to watch Connie for me." It was enough to get her attention, to have her staring at him. So lost, so frightened.

Despite it all. He couldn't bring himself to truly hate her. Not now. Not when she was all he had. "It'll just be for a little while, I promise." He then turns to see Doug looking at him with his eyes fully widened."I can heal Connie's mom, just take me to her."

He thanked him, he thanked him the same way as he would a savior. Tears in his eyes, and weak in the knees. It didn't sit right for Steven, but now wasn't the time to think of those thoughts as he began to be dragged from the room by the man.

"Spinel, please, stay with her! I don't want Connie to be alone." He calls to the gem.

Spinel is looking at him, with the same blank face. As if not registering what he just said. "Please Spinel, we don't want her to be left alone." She hesitates for a moment, staring blankly at him. He is barely able to see her nod as he is dragged out the door and down the crowded hall, filled with workers and patients.

It didn't even come to Steven to question what attacked Connie's mom.

Not till he had already argued and forced himself into the surgical room. Not until after he spat on the woman and watched as her unpeel skin seemingly placed itself back together.

The thought never came till after he saw her horribly coughed and wheezed out blood that filled her lungs. When she is trying her damndest to speak.

He could barely understand her, through the vomit and blood she gurgles out. But the question is clear through the few words she is able to mutter out.

The thought was a simple question.

What attacked her?

"It was a monster...an invisible monster."

* * *

There was no plan.

There was never a plan.

Leaving the garden, having her new friends, the entire year-long trip, there was no plan.

Spinel just wanted to make Pink pay for leaving her behind. To make the Pink hurt, as she had hurt her.

But her diamond was gone.

Just like when she first left her. Abandoning Spinel twice in a row without the gem even knowing it.

But then there was the replacement and her other friends. She could make them pay. Take out all the years of loneliness, pain, and sorrow she has ever felt on the four of them.

Make it so that they will remember her. That finally Spinel would win a game.

But then one of her new friends hit her and the Amethyst was shattered.

It stopped being a game. It stopped being fun.

It became scary.

She did not have a plan. But they did. There was always a plan with them. She can feel them as they think. It used to be a comfort, in the silent cold abyss. Now it wasn't. It scared her.

A collective of billions of forms, all moving and acting like one. All for the purpose of one thing. To still their hunger.

The itching continued to get worse.

It was like something in the back of her mind was digging and scraping its way within her.

It was them.

They were moving, formatting. She didn't want to know this. She didn't want to feel them anymore. She wanted the itching to go away, to get the bad thoughts away, but they just continued to drown her every thought.

She tries to keep herself focused, to do the task asked of her by the replacement.

To watch the human, to keep her from being alone. It was a small little thing to ask. Something she could easily do, or at least she thought she could.

So ready to please she was, at the drop of a word yet again.

Connie, the human, laid before her. Her whole body was like a statue. The only noises being from her breathing and from the machines hooked into her.

It wasn't much. Even the muffled sounds from outside the room did little to fill the quiet. Spinel hated it.

The lack of sound, the isolated feeling. It was such an all-too-familiar feeling. The Replacement did this. Telling her to stay in place as he closed the door outside the room, having her confront the quiet.

She wanted to be mad. But she couldn't. Cause he didn't want his Connie to be left alone. Immediately she folded to his words because she knew how it felt. To be alone, left behind.

If only though she wasn't so quiet. "He told me you were hurt, that you can't talk or move." Spinel spoke, just to break the silence. There is no replay.

"And you're his friend? His best friend from what he told me? He's really worried about you." Spinel steps closer to the human, sitting on the soft table she laid on. "He's nice and I don't get why."

There is still no response, but Spinel continues. "I hurt him. His friends, his family, you, his home and all he does is shout at me and then stops." She grips at her own arms, as she thinks about the replacement. A familiar feeling of dread is slowly creeping on her.

"He even taught me about snacks. He held me when I was scared. So why? Why is he nice? Is he gonna trick me? Is he?!" Spinel turns to the unmoving Connie, an angry expression forms on the gem's face. "Well, say something already!"

Spinel gets up from the soft table and tightens her hold on her own arms, the fingers digging into the skin. "He's probably laughing at me right now, isn't he?! He told me to do something, to wait right here and I did it! Just like with her!" She shouts as she twists her head to look back at Connie and becomes infuriated as she sees the human do nothing, still.

Moving her head back, Spinel stomps towards the window. "He thinks I'm probably too dumb to notice. That's what it is, isn't it?!" She looks out to the city. Seeing they were above on the second floor of the building, as it gave her a view of some of the collapsed buildings, and the ooze from her injector that had spread everywhere. Her own handy work.

The itching in her mind grows, becoming more irritating. More violating. Things were moving, something was happening and she couldn't even think what it was. "Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Spinel shouts as she pulls a fist back and slams it into the side of her head.

The feeling just kept on, slowly getting stronger to a point that it just made Spinel want to tear her own mind apart.

She turns to Connie, glaring at the human that was still on her soft table. Still laying there, still just doing nothing as Steven risked himself coming here for her. Even as he sat and waited, she stayed still there.

No smile, no wave, no hug, no game! She was not a friend, this human was just hurting him. Laughing at him, laughing at Spinel. Playing a game with them that they didn't want to play.

Friends don't do that.

Connie is not a friend.

"Get up. I said, GET UP!" Spinel shouts as she moves back to the soft table, and grabs at the front of Connie's covers, lifting her up from the table. "I've had it with you! Open your eyes, right now!"

She still wasn't listening, still playing with her. "Stop it, right now, I mean it!" Spinel shakes her, but even when the plastic object is thrown off her face and the tubes are ripped from her nose she remains still. "You think playing games on us is funny?! Fine, then I know a game! It's called make them go, poof, Pink used to love it!"

Tightening the grip she had on Connie's covers, Spinel raises a fist up, ready to throw all her might into a single strike on this human.

She is stopped, as the window of the room bursts apart, and Spinel feels something large crashing into her body and knocking her to the floor.

It took Spinel just a moment to recover from the shock of the strike as she shoves the object off her and looks to the window…

Her form freezes up, just like it did before when her mind was sent reeling when she saw it.

It was one of them. The Xenos.

It was the bigger one with multiple eyes. Its large body climbs into the room, not even making a single sound as it steps upon the shattered glass on the floor.

The thing that hit her, that was thrown through the window, was a human. A large one, that seemed bloated with its form. He was not moving, nor breathing. Seemingly broken as he had strange whiten objects projecting from his body and was missing two of his limbs. He had his long hair torn into, the very top of his head was carved open, its insides left hollow.

Spinel takes a step back as she sees the horrific expression of agony frozen on the human's face and slips on the warm red ooze that spilled from his body.

A large puddle had already formed under her, and she was now covered in the thick liquid. The smell was horrid. The feeling of it on her skin was as well. It made Spinel feel sick, it made her want to gag.

Tearing her eyes from the sight of the broken human, Spinel turns back to the Xeno, just in time to see it picking up Connie in its claws.

"Stop-" Spinel tries shouted as she moves to stretch herself, getting ready to spring for an attack. She doesn't even get a chance to fully stand before she is hit by a splatter of red ooze.

Right before her very eyes, she watched as Connie was effortlessly ripped in half. And she is unable to react.

Odd organic stuffing is falling out of Connie's open sides, as the bottom half of her form is thrown against the corner of the room.

Her head is taken by one of Xeno's claws and is brought to its mass of tendrils, as they violently and horribly begin to pierce into it.

Spinel's lips quiver, almost as if she would speak but is interrupted as a loud sickening crunch echoes across the room, followed shortly by the wet splat that is made due to the top of Connie's upper body being thrown against the wall next to the gem.

Half of the human's face is now gone, just replaced with a mess of organic red ooze and white structures.

The Xeno then looked to Spinel. The itching scrapes in the back of her mind growing to the point she can feel as if billions of little teeth were biting into her psyche at once.

There was a plan. There is always a plan. Target, misdirect, break, consume. No hint of hesitation, no empathy to be had. Just unending hunger.

The monster stomps towards her, it tosses aside the soft table, with enough force to make it shatter it against the wall. An alien rumbling echoes from its maw as it reaches closer towards Spinel.

Her form keeps still. There is no breath to scream. No energy to move. Spinel's body is completely numb as if she was watching from outside her own form. It's tendrils licked at her face, as it raised a claw towards her gem.

The door to the room is thrown open and Spinel only has enough time to turn her head. To see the replacement, to see her Steven.

To watch as he screams in pure terror, right before she feels a horrible piercing going through her body, as the monster slashes it claws through her very gem.

Everything goes dark afterward.

Everything becomes quiet.

The itch is still there.

* * *

**The Lictor**

**A highly specialized development of the Tyranid bioform that is specifically adapted at stealth. Roving ahead of the main body of a swarm it seeks out pockets of resistance to be eradicated and native life forms to be absorbed. Able to move swiftly and without sound through even the densest terrain, and concealed by a chameleonic carapace that renders it all but invisible to the naked eye, a Lictor can remain hidden until it chooses to strike. Remaining motionless for days, unnoticed by its victims, it will wait till the perfect moment to strike.**

**When the time comes, Lictors are brutally efficient, with mantis-like claws, talons that can pierce steel, barbed flesh hooks and feeder tendrils from its maw. The feeder tendrils alone hold enough strength to pierce a victim's skull as easily as they poke through eyeballs and the sockets behind. They are used to lobotomize victims so that the Lictor can swiftly devour its brain and importantly absorb its memories. Thus, in death, the enemy reveals more to a Lictor than it ever did in life, betraying the whereabouts of comrades and exposing any weaknesses that might be exploited. **

**With the right victim, the Lictor and by extension, the swarm will learn who to target. Be it the world's leaders, and heroes. Who are those that are revered and looked up to as a light in dark times. They will learn how to target those, most of all. And they will learn how to break them down into nothing.**

_"It was like the shadows just came alive and took him, right from under our noses. One moment he was there, the next he was gone... and none of us saw an Emperor-damned thing."_

_— Sergeant Morvik, 351st Castobel Rifle Brigade_

* * *

**The Deathleaper **

**Of all Mankind's phobias, it is the unknown and the unseen that commands the greatest fear. None more hold such a thing, than The Hive Mind's ultimate assassin and psychological weapon, The Dealeaper, ****a unique Lictor bioform****. Such a creature was first encountered on the missionary world of St. Caspalen. Such a world was lead by a spiritual leader, Cardinal Salem, a man both respected and loved by his people on the planet. Fueled by his faith and love of others, he carried on his mission to always raise the spirits of his people. The kind of person, that even in death, would only be seen as a martyr, steeling the resolve of the St. Caspalen people in the face of the approaching terror known as the Tyranid Hive Fleet.**

**The Deathleaper knew this. ****So instead, it broke him.**

**The Lictor had infiltrated the Cardinal's cathedral-bunker and slaughtered his advisors, hacked through his bodyguard, and left only the prey-leader himself unharmed, covered in the blood and viscera of his closest aides. For ten days, it would do this. Targeting the leader's friends, and family. Any who were close to him. Like a monstrous predator toying with a mouse, bypassing the ever-increasing levels of security each time to come within a claw's grasp of the Cardinal before mysteriously fleeing from the bloody scene. Leaving him to mourn over those who died for him. **

**The knowledge that the Tyranid assassin could eliminate him at any time was more than the Cardinal's sanity could take. His daily broadcasts became increasingly frantic, and his panic-stricken paranoia and broken mind did more to break the morale of the St. Caspalen defense forces than any mere execution could have. When it came time for the Hive-Fleet of the swarm to arrive, it was able to easily butcher its leaderless prey due solely to the actions of the Deathleaper.**

_"It's there, I know it is, lurking in the shadows, stalking me like an animal. It's death itself I tell you, just watching me, waiting… Oh blessed Emperor, why won't it just kill me?"_

_— The ravings of Cardinal Salem_


	3. Chapter 3

Blood.

There was blood everywhere. It had covered him, in head to toe. Blood of people he knew, of people he loved.

Connie, her parents, his father, dead. Rendered to almost unrecognizable bits of shredded meat.

There were many in the wing of the hospital at the time. With it fully packed as so many being hurt, so many having family or friends over. The hospital staff, and gems that were trying their damndest to ease the panic, to help those that needed it.

All of them were just more meat in the grinder.

The thing killed them. All of them.

Every human and gem on the entire floor.

Except for him.

He wondered why. Why would it do such a thing?

When he came into the room, he saw things that will haunt him for the rest of his days. His father with his arms gone, his bones sticking out of him, his head hollow.

Connie, his best friend, his first friend. Her body was ripped in half, with her head seemingly eaten like it was some common fruit.

Her parents.

They were in the midst of screaming at the sight of their daughter as the monster leaped to them.

Doug, the poor man, was at least given a quick death. The frontal part of his head was removed. Eyes, jaw, nose, and a large portion of his brain was severed in an instant. He was likely dead before his body even touched the ground.

Connie's mother, Priyanka, was not as fortunate.

This was the only time it slowed down. The only time it lingered. Steven watched as the woman he had saved just moments ago was gurgling blood. She fell to her knees, as her hands came up to her neck, trying to stop the bleeding. Her eyes were widened, showing the terror in them as she struggled to breathe. She looked towards him.

To the boy that saved her life just moments ago, with tears in her eyes. Steven froze, finding himself unable to move in time as the creature's tail ripped into her from behind, impaling through her stomach, and with a simple flick, it tore upward through her chest and head.

Half of her landed towards her husband. The other half folded on top of itself. A horrible death she didn't deserve. That no one did. Yet it still happened.

But that wasn't enough for it. The creature just ran down the halls, towards the screaming doctors and patients that saw what happened. After them, it went into the rooms.

Its movement was fluid and unbelievably brutal. Not a single soul was spared it's attention.

Even when it was out of his direct sight he was able to hear the screams. The awful, blood-curdling screams of panic, of people begging, of them dying.

It kept going until it was all quiet.

Left barren of anyone alive, save Steven.

When it came to him, he couldn't even stand. He collapsed to his knees with the bodies.

It stared down at him with its emotionless, inhuman eyes. Covered in the blood and gore of so many victims. The thing did not say a word, it did not growl or snarl at all. It just stared at him.

And Steven started back. Looking at the horror, with an expected glance. He didn't want to be left there, he didn't want to live in a world where this had happened. He was hoping this was it. That it would now kill him.

It didn't. Instead, Steven watched it simply walk away. Leaving him alone in the blood, in the horror, in the now quiet wing of the hospital that was filled with life just seconds ago.

When Pearl had arrived, she did so calling out for him. Desperately trying to find her boy, as she was climbing up the stairway. He could hear her every step, could hear as she shoves open the door.

Hearing her screaming was what finally broke him. He began screaming as well.

* * *

This was it. This was them.

Voices. The cries of hunger, nothing but hunger. Cold and uncaring for what it will take to satiate it. She sees it. She sees them.

They come. Far from the stars. They come. They come snarling and roaring. The years, the millennia that she waited is nothing compared to theirs.

They come. They come.

In unfathomable numbers. What they have seen, what they have faced. Such horrors meant nothing to them. They know no fear. They know nothing but hunger.

They come.

She sees them. Those that try to stop them. Beings that swallowed suns, beings that were able to create worlds, those who know nothing but fighting, those that have fallen from their grace, those young and naive, those of metal formed from eons of old.

She sees them all.

Humans. Humans, much like the ones on earth. But so different. So much stronger. With weapons of such power, with numbers so massive, using tools the likes of which she couldn't even understand.

She sees it. The rip in the night sky. It's four faces of those with power. Power the likes that even a diamond would never compare to. To form and destroy entire worlds, entire universes.

They see them too. They see all and hold no ounce of fear. They do not see what she sees, as their forces are ripped apart, as she feels large shredded pieces of a metal roar into her skin, they do not see it as those with green skin scream at them in numbers that can match theirs, beating her back with sheer might. They don't see the naive or the metal using such advanced weapons to burn them out by the tens of thousands, even as her skin and eyes boil, she pushes on. They cannot see it as the dark beings plot to wipe them away. As a skeletal form rises from a throne. Using powers of likes that no one should have.

They do not see it.

All they see is prey.

And they come. They come in numbers. Such large numbers. Outnumbering entire universes. Entire galaxies.

They come. They come for all.

It doesn't matter. Nothing matters.

The voices are roaring. The itching is growing.

The hunger pushes them onward.

Leaders are dying. Tools are being destroyed. Followers are forming or coming out of hiding, all is going as they planned.

Its shadow has been cast. Its synapses are forming. The Brood is preparing for the fleet's arrival. The game was over long before she could even play.

It's over.

They have come.

* * *

The gem felt so heavy in his hand. Heavier than any other gem he had ever held. But it was there. It was there and whole.

Thoughts turn to wonder though. How long it would take for her reform. Minutes from now? Hours? Days?

He needed to see her. To hear her. To feel her.

To know she was alive. That he was able to save one person at least. That he can still fix this.

The two long carvings through her gem were gone. One wad of spit was all it took, and the large cuts left by the creature were gone. He saved Spinel. But he couldn't do so for the others...

He had tried so very hard to do such a thing again. To do as he did with Lars years ago. To bring them back.

No amount of tears or spit worked though.

And he tried.

It was how Pearl found him. Clutching his father's body tightly as he tried to bring him back. When tears didn't work, then came the saliva. Then it became either if he was using the right amount or not.

He could still taste their blood on his tongue.

It was a foolish idea to try, but he did anyway. It didn't work. Not for Connie, not for his dad. Not for anyone there. Not even on the other gems, as they were shattered into pieces far beyond his healing.

But he managed to save her. The lowly confused gem. The one that he called his friend. Who knew of him and the other gems, and had spoken about his mother.

Why did his issues always lead back to her?

He didn't know. Frankly, he didn't care to know anymore. All he knew was that Spinel was all he had managed to save. And it wasn't nearly enough.

"Come on, you have got to be zogging kidding me!" Pearl spoke up, as she tried again to turn the ignition. The puttering of the van is all that comes from it. The fourth time she has tried with the same result.

Steven watches as she is tightly holding the wheel in her hands. "Piece of zog, just work!" She shouts out as she raises a hand and hits it against the wheel. Obviously holding back much of her strength while doing so.

"Greg, I told you to not push it too hard or…" She stops, pressing her gem against the wheel center as she lets out a single sob.

Memories come to Steven, watching her and his father together, and how close they become. He wonders how she was feeling about Garnet or Amethyst. He knows she must be feeling so much right now. And he knows how troubled she is when losing someone...

Who wouldn't under these circumstances.

Before he could make any comment, Pearl just orders him to not leave the van, as she pops open the hood and exits the vehicle. Ready to fix it as soon as possible so that they may leave.

He owes so much to her.

Just like before, she carried him away from it. She held him close to her chest and didn't speak a word as she found him among the bodies. She bottled her emotions and thought only of him as she ran back downstairs and out of the hospital, ignoring the panicking people and gems along the way.

The front parking lot had them find his father's van. With it left behind, and the key still in the ignition of all things.

The drive through the city as it was like visiting a graveyard. The pink glow of the ooze brought by the injector was spread around the streets. Pearl just continued driving, taking longer routes and unconventional roads to avoid it till she reached the temple itself.

Things didn't go well from there.

Sapphire had reformed and it seemed something was dreadfully wrong with her.

When they came to the temple she was standing by the door. Looking none at all harmed in any way, in fact, she was singing. An a cappella song.

Yet that was all she would do. Sing. The song was but a few notes she'd repeat over and over again.

Pearl tried to speak to her, but no matter what she said, no matter how loud she shouted, the other gem wouldn't stop singing or move from her spot.

He worried about her. It wasn't safe at the temple. It possibly wasn't safe anywhere in the city with the monster around. Pearl tried to grab her, and that was when she nearly froze them both at the spot.

Never missing a note while doing so.

Pearl left her after that. She walked to the bathroom, washed the blood off him. Changed his clothing. And then carried him back to the van. Not giving the blue gem a second glance as she left.

What was happening to his life? To their life?

Such a simple question that the boy couldn't answer. In a span of possibly a single day so much has happened.

It was one thing for Beach City to be wrecked.

It was entirely a different process to lose actual people. Amethyst, Garnet, and Ruby. They were just taken from him in a span of a few moments. Steven couldn't possibly have imagined a worse thing to happen so soon afterward.

Then Spinel told him there were more of those creatures.

Then he saw his father's body. The inside of his head, hollowed out. Arms removed. Body a mangled mess. All topped with a look of sheer terror on his face.

Then there was Connie. The boy couldn't help but wonder if she even felt it. If she was even awake. Was it peaceful at least for her? To be ripped in two. To have a chuck of your head gone.

He thinks of them both, and what must have gone through their heads. The last thought they had. The last word they spoke. What about Connie's parents? What about all the others on the floor?

What about Spinel...

He saw her just as he opened the door. She was on her knees, tears in her eyes as she looked at him. It was for less than a single second. But the image haunted him.

The grief, the regret. She was sorry. She was truly sorry. He asked her to watch Connie, and she knew she failed. She failed him. Her friend.

She was the one responsible for all this. The pain, the deaths. The monsters being here in the first place. The injector crashing into the mountainside.

Or was she.

'There is no plan.' Was what she told him. And honestly, Steven could plainly see what she had meant. To do this would mean Spinel would not only have wanted but be smart enough to do all this.

To have killed so many people, to be the one responsible for it all.

The same gem who had asked him how to eat.

Who had a panic attack and needed to hold his hand?

Who was scared and sorry that she failed to do as he said?

She is like the others. Another victim.

But there is but one difference. One little thing he did, that he cannot do for others.

Save her. She was hurt immensely, but not broken.

He fixed her. He was able to finally save someone again. So why does it still hurt? Why can't he just focus on this and stop the crying? Stop this awful feeling in his chest.

It hurt him. More than any gem weapon ever could. It hurt him, knowing that he was there. That he was breathing, that he was crying. While Connie, Ruby, his dad, Amethyst, and so many more were gone. To know there was nothing he could do to save them. Nothing.

Why couldn't that thing just kill him? Why did it have to make him suffer? Why…

Why is it just standing there?

It was in the van. Looking at him.

The moment Pearl left, it's skin began to change texture, revealing itself to be in front of the boy the whole time.

"Just do it. Just make it end." Steven whimpers, as he closes his eyes and holds Spinel's gem to his chest. He wanted the pain to just go away.

The end doesn't come for him. All it does is stare. And stare. Tormenting him with its mere presence.

Toying with him. Letting him know that he'll die when it wants him to die.

* * *

This isn't how it was supposed to be. None of this was how things were supposed to be.

All it took was practically a day. One single day, and it seemed like the entire world was falling apart. Not just for himself. For everyone.

The phone in his hands shows him what Spinel told him about. That there were more of them out there.

The monsters.

Every few seconds news would keep appearing through different links that he finds.

The radio of the van was playing an emergency broadcast, transcribing to everyone what was happening around the world.

What they say. What he read.

Where to even start?

The mayor of Beach City was found dead. Not just her, but her whole family as well.

It happened at, of all places, the hospital. The very same one he was at just hours ago.

After the injector crashed, she went with her family there. One of her granddaughters was injured when the injector crashed.

They were one of the first to arrive for such treatment before most of the city followed.

And they were all dead. Mayor Nanefua Pizza was found with her head open. The inside hollowed out.

Just like his father's.

They put her time of death a little afternoon. Less than an hour after the injector crashed, and no one could pay any attention to it. Not because they didn't care, or didn't think much of it, but because the panic was too much. The crime scene was covered up, put to the back burner as the hospital had to deal with the major influx of people and the police were dealing with saving people in the city.

When an entire floor of a hospital was found dead, they couldn't hide such a thing anymore. Any amount of tension that had begun to settle down immediately skyrocketed back up as the irrational panic returned. People wanted to move families and loved ones out of there, out of the city itself, or rather hat was left of it.

Not that it would change much.

The news came around, and it was reported that awful things didn't just happen in Beach City, but everywhere as well.

People around the world were dying.

Being slaughtered by what could only be described as monsters. Terrible creatures with eyes that lack any at all humanity in them, that hold no hesitation as they snuff out the lives of anyone they come across.

Around the world, all at once, they came out of hiding and began the killing. Reports flooded the media as they came from everywhere possible. Sewers, forests, the shores of beaches, the ground itself, abandoned buildings, old tunnels. Every hiding place possible, they come.

The estimated lives lost numbered in the hundreds of thousands per country. In the millions, if you were to put it all together. With the number increasing by the hour. All within the span of a single day.

All done by them, these horrors.

The world was in disarray, each nation's army was called to action, each police force was made to help the civilians, everyone that was able to hold a gun was told to try and hold a line.

It did little to stop them.

The creatures just kept coming. No hint of fear, no amount of hesitation to be had. People theorized they were mindless. Just acting based on swarm mentality.

That theory was quickly thrown out as it became more clear what areas the hordes were targeting.

Power plants, airports, piers, military outposts, water treatment plants, hospitals, labs. Just anywhere that can be thought of as important was attacked.

Using their numbers to great use, hundreds in a moment would rush into whatever place hides their prey, and would tear through everything. Fences, walls, even armed guards were like paper to them.

Said prey was…

Someone. A head of research, a high ranking general, a leader. They were killing leaders.

As far as Steven knew, both the president and the vice-president were dead, with reports on the radio and online giving new news as it was discovered.

When it was found out there was another type of attack, he felt his heart skip a beat. If they weren't rushed by the hoard, they were found dead by having their bodies torn apart, and heads carved open and left hollow.

Just like what happened to the mayor, his father, and nearly to himself.

These things would kill and eat whoever they were targeting, and then immediately turn back to their hiding. Leaving as fast as they came, only to return moments later, attacking another location, killing more people.

The internet has been exploding. Showing millions of pictures and videos of the invaders.

Steven was staring deeply at Pearl's phone, at one of the images. It was blurry and was taken at night. Making it hard to make out exactly it was for most people. Not for Steven.

He recognized it. How it was caught mid-camouflage, half of its body just becoming see-through as it was leaping through the air.

It wasn't the big one that tormented him.

It was smaller. Leaner. The same exact one that shattered Ruby and Amethyst.

Steven swept to the next picture. He sees an image of one of the hordes.

These weren't the same as the ones that attacked him though. Yes, they were both bipedal, had six limbs, and had similar color but this was like a different breed of the same species.

It had a bulbous head and had a visible mouth. With jaws lined with viciously sharp teeth, all designed for ripping and tearing. He is even able to see their oddly long tongues.

This creature was smaller and didn't seem to have the ability to turn invisible like the other kind could. But it made up for that with sheer numbers.

"They're organized," Pearl said, as she placed one of her hands over the phone, keeping the other on the wheel as she drove. "Here's what we know. It seems to have just been the super-powered countries to be hit, along with anyone that had significant military defense. World leaders, and their replacements are being killed and a lot of places are losing the things they need to survive. Electricity, Water, medical care are all being targeted. Most spots for transportation are also getting cut. This is an…"

She pauses for a moment to take a deep breath. "...an invasion Steven. And it's one being done right." Her grip tightens on the wheel, as she gently pushes the phone down onto Steven's lap and then turns off the radio. "I need you to get some sleep. You'll need it." This wasn't an order. He knows because her tone was different.

She's worried. And she had every right to be.

Last night she didn't see the creature. The thing that had killed his father and Connie. It ran the moment she moved to turn on the van. Pearl utterly refused to leave his very side after that, as they left the temple behind and drove to his father's car wash. They stayed there for the rest of the night. Waiting. For it to come again, to attack them.

It didn't.

But they could feel it watching them the entire night.

When morning came, it did so with the news of the rest of the world falling apart and a call on Pearl's phone. Government officials. The same as the ones they've been in contact with for the past three years.

There was a meeting that was taking place. One that he needed to come too, regardless of how he was or felt. It was about this invasion, and what actions needed to be taken about it.

The only reason Pearl agreed was because of the location.

The Cheyenne mountain complex, near Colorado springs. Buried 2000 feet in solid granite, with 25-ton blast doors, large springs at the bottom to prevent it from moving an inch during the most intense earthquake. 15 buildings, three stories. Filled with 24/7 guard patrol in every room.

Made years ago in the event of another great war taking place and was constructed to be the safest place on earth.

Though it would take time to reach them. The place was a full 24 hours drive away. Air transportation wasn't possible right now, as everything was under threat with the creatures, or being used for saving survivors.

But at least there, they would be safe.

And Pearl wanted him safe, more than anything. She was willing to make the trip. Steven personally didn't know what to make of anything anymore so he mindlessly agreed.

Hours on the road, he still didn't know what to make of this all. This invasion wasn't like anything he faced before. He has seen stuff like this in movies but the monsters there were not like these things.

He hasn't slept at all for the past day's worth of time; hasn't eaten anything since the few bites of chips he had to show Spinel how it was done.

They've been on the road since the morning. Taking in everything that has happened together. Pearl lamented about the trip to keep her thoughts on other things, berating herself for not accounting for traffic or needing to stop for gas when she decided to just go onto the road.

It couldn't be helped though, as they needed to reach the complex as quickly as possible and the warp pads no longer worked.

They haven't been working for months now. No matter how much any gem engineer tried, it was like something was blocking it from working. Meaning that they had to rely on longer ways to get to places.

The idea of using Lion was also out of the question. The pink beast was sick. Terribly so, with no one knowing what illness affects him. The poor thing can barely stand, let alone create any kind of portal.

This just left them with the only option of driving in the van for now. A cramped, 20-year old vehicle that was barely running at all. Filled with instruments, and junk that belonged to a recently dead father.

It was an option, just a poor one.

The drive did nothing to help Steven.

While he is here sitting in the passenger side of a van, fleeing to safety, people are dying by the hundreds to an unknown race of monsters.

He very much doubted sleep was going to help. If that were to happen, then his mind would settle. And then it would start to get to him, just how many he lost already.

His father, Connie, Ruby, Amethyst, he couldn't allow himself to focus on any of them right now.

He can meet with the officials and all of them together can think up a plan. Something to fix this. To save everyone that was still alive.

Then he can rest. Then he can grieve.

It isn't like he is over it. Far from it. It's only been a few hours and they've all been taken from him.

What about the people in Beach City? Lars, Onion, all those people with families in the hospital or under the rumble. Would they be targets? Would he come home to find them gone as well? Butchered and made into examples of right in front of him?

Too much. It was too much to think on for now. So pushed it off for now, leaving it for when he can do something.

Until then he can't stop thinking about what he needs to do, what he needs to say.

He was a public figure now. He had responsibilities he needed to see through for relations between humans and gems. He turned his mind towards that.

When he used Pearl's phone, he saw that a lot of people online were blaming gems. 'Aliens that brought Aliens?' or titles like that were on several websites. Worst part was that if what Spinel said was true, they were right.

It was something to keep him busy during the drive. A distraction for now.

Pearl kept telling him to get some sleep. To rest as they drove to the meeting place, but he couldn't. Too much to think on...too much to fix.

He was only taken from his thoughts as he felt a wipe a tear away from his face. "Steven, we need to be strong. I promise we will get there and find something that we can do to fix this." Pearl's voice was shaking silently, but she is able to hold herself as she rests her hand on his cheek. So much better than he can.

After all, she's had thousands of years of experience than him. It was still obvious though, she was only pushing herself for him.

Steven gently pulls her hand from his face as he tries to rub away the tiredness from his eyes. "I just want to get this stuff over with. Maybe we could think up something with the government that can make these things run off or something."

He isn't able to see Pearl nod her, and rolled her eyes at what he said. "Sure, it's only a 18-hour drive till we even get close to the complex. I'm sure you'll come up with the magical idea that fixes everything." She did little to hide the bitterness in her tongue there, before taking another deep breath to calm herself down.

"Peridot is organizing as much as she can with other gems to find survivors. Lapis and Bismuth are still out saving people from the other problems we're having. Everyone is doing their part right now, just do yours by being well-rested and able to think straight by the time we get there."

At the mention of the other gems, Steven couldn't help but feel a chill run up his spine.

He can imagine their reaction to the news of all this happening. Peridot screaming, asking for details on exactly what happened. Lapis would be in shock, and ready to fly to him at a moment's notice. Bismuth would be right at the town fixing stuff to try and calm her nerves, or would be on the attack for whatever hurt her friends.

They were just people he trusted, people he could depend on. And that seemed to be what was getting people killed a lot lately.

"Is there anything you can tell me about these things? These monsters?" He quickly changes the subject. He can't rest now. He doesn't want to allow himself the chance to. That would mean that he'd have time to settle his mind. Let it realize things he didn't want to pay attention now.

He hoped that maybe he could instead look for answers, thinking that in her thousands of years life-span she would know something about the creatures. But it seemed that the gem knows as much as he does. "I'm sorry Steven, but there is nothing I can tell you of these creatures. No name, no motive. Nothing, as far as I know. It's possible the diamonds encounter them, but that's only a random guess." She wasn't hiding any truth from him this time. He remembered how good it felt to know that.

Now all it did was upset him.

If she didn't know, then it meant there was no one to tell him much of anything. The diamonds could maybe know, but the conservatory was damaged by the injector crashing. And even when it wasn't, it started having problems the same time as the warp pads stopped working.

Just another thing to add to the growing list of issues.

But there was at least one thing Pearl could tell him. At least on the topic of a certain gem. "Spinel told me that they were her friends or at least she thought they were." He pulls the gem in question out of his pocket, noting how Pearl gave a grimace the moment she saw it.

"Spinel is clearly not in the right mind, Steven. I'm sure you've noticed that." That dismissive tone. That's something he remembers hearing a lot whenever she wasn't convinced of something.

Rubbing his forehead in frustration, as he tries to reword the question. "She knows you, and I'm sure you know her, maybe you can help me talk to her. We can have her explain things for all of us."

Pearl doesn't even spare him a glance. "It was a long time ago. Before there was Rose, and before there was even any gem activity on earth. Little time after I was given to her, I found that she had this toy she played with."

"A toy?" Steven asks, fully confused at the idea. Gems were thought to be used as tools, each one having a purpose. A toy was not one he expected.

It seemed even Pearl was a little confused by it, as she shrugs her soldiers. "Yes, that's what Spinel is made to act as. For entertainment, and playing games. I mean, Pink had other playmates as well but…" Steven watches as Pearl's grip on the wheel tightens again, this time to a point that she causes it to bend under her own strength.

"Let's just say, there's a reason Spinel was kept away from everyone."

A simple glare is all he does as he gently places the gem right next to himself on the seat. "Pearl...tell me, everything."

* * *

It all comes folding in on itself. Every mind, every Brood, every horde and their billion of thoughts comes rushing at once. It makes her mind ache. It makes it itch.

Her form returns. It was crude, and felt so forced, but she was rushing away from it. Trying to pull her mind away before it is lost.

When she opens her eyes, she finds herself in new surroundings. A cramped metallic box, filled with what seemed to be tools. Looking down at herself, she notices that she was sitting on something, a kind of cloth. By her was him.

Her Steven.

She remembers what happened before. She remembers the human thrown at her, seeing the other human Connie as ripped in half by the Xeno. The last thing she remembers is him rushing into the room, is the feeling of its claws on her gem.

How is she here? How could she reform?

The Xenos, she saw them, felt them. She was one with the Brood. The hivemind. She finally was with them. It was awful, and yet it also felt amazing. To see so much, from so much. To be a part of the horde. She saw places that could only be described as grimdark. And she wanted more. Even as she felt burned, even as she felt herself being ripped apart. There was a blessing to it all. The unification of the hive felt determined. There was no fear, no loneliness. Only hunger.

They come.

They'll win. And finally, she can get what she wanted most of all. An end.

An end to the pain, to the itching. They can take away our pain, leave nothing without attention. There was something safe in that. That they wouldn't need to worry anymore. No more stress, no more resisting. It was comforting. It made the dark thoughts go quiet. It made her ignore the itch.

Placing a hand onto her gem she finds nothing. Not even a scratch.

He must have saved her somehow. Brought her gem back to the point she could form again. A worthless attempt. They are coming. Soon they'll planetfall. And this world will end.

The stars. How far they come from the stars themselves. How could anyone stand against that? The Brood was here. It came much faster than even she had. They already are preparing. More are being formed. Defenses are being broken. A trap is being laid.

The Brood will greet them.

She wondered what he would do. Would he be ready for them?

"My Steven…" He was laying down next to her on the cloth. Eyes were close. Just like with the other human, Connie. Unable to move, unable to react. Spinel reaches a hand towards him. Thinking that maybe she could ease him.

They showed her the other humans. They were so much stronger. So much better.

She saw the Xenos break them. She saw how they would be crushed, and destroy every amount of hope they have. Even those that tried to escape through strange and unknown meant nothing. They could do nothing. They exist to be devoured.

She'll shatter him now. Let him have some peace.

That's what she'll do for her friend.

She places her hand gently on his face. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I did this-" Spinel stops as she notices that from the corner of her vision, there was a spear pointed at her. With it being held by none other by Pearl.

"You have a lot of things to be sorry about. Maybe you should be a bit more specific." Pearl mumbles bluntly, holding the spear closer to Spinel's face. Threatening to impale her. Almost like they were back then in the garden once more.

Pushing away the weapon, Spinel moves up and sits down on the seat next to Pearl. Looking out the windows, and the passing scenery she can see they were in a vehicle. With Pearl seemingly piloting it, as she was using one hand for the controls, and the other to hold her spear. Neither spoke much.

Simply watching as everything goes by. Spinel would notice small moments where Pearl would take a small device from her gem to look at it, before they move along one of the many paths on the ground. Mumbling to herself something about a connection a few times.

Spinel wondered if Pearl could notice it. How it was riding on top of the vehicle they were in. It's skin camouflage perfectly, allowing it to follow without being noticed by anyone else. Save herself though. The itch in her mind made her aware it was there.

Would it try to shatter her again? Would it make sure it does the job right this time? Most likely. It was designed to not make the same mistake twice. But it was holding its hand. Allowing the Brood to have a try.

She doubted Steven and Pearl knew anything of it. It would be too late when they realize what will happen.

"It's been over 6000 years. You got nothing to say?" The sudden question pulls Spinel's eyes from the widows as she gives the other gem a glare. "Oh, you really want to talk to me? Oh geez, I'm sorry. I thought we were playing your favorite game. Shut Up, Spinel." Spinel doesn't even attempt to hold back her bitter tone as she turns to face the pearl. "But hey, what do I know about what is your favorite now. After all, it has been a while."

Pearl keeps her eyes ahead, continuing to pilot the vehicle. Her back straight, her arms at ease, always so proper and neat. "Still the same, even after all this time. Where everything leads to a joke." A brow raise, Spinel glare turns more annoyed. "I can say the same about you, little Ms. Proper and safe."

"You don't know a thing about me."

"Whose fault is that?"

Pearl raises her spear a bit, angling it as if to attack, but she makes it disappear instead. Unarming herself, instead of leading into the argument. "Spinel, I don't know what happened to you. And honestly, I can't even pretend to care." Placing her other hand to the wheel-like object in front of her, Pearl gives Spinel a simple little glance. "Whatever happened to you, happened. That was the past, this is now. And now, I am trying to keep Steven safe." She turns her eyes upward towards the mirror that changed from the vehicle's ceiling. In the reflection, Spinel is able to see Steven as he was still laying down on the floor. "He's sleeping. Humans have this period of time where they close their-" Spinel interrupts her as she groans out to her how she knows what sleeping is already. "Then you should know he's tired, very much so. He's hurt, more so then he ever has been before because of you and all of these things out there."

Paying attention to the gem's tone, Spinel sees how her eyes look back to the front window quickly as she tightly holds her mouth in place. "The Xenos?" Pearl rolls her eyes at the name for them. "That's a hateful word Spinel."

The laugh leaves her lips, perhaps the first genuine one she's had in a while. "Hateful? You're one to talk when it comes to being hateful of things." She giggles out, as she extends her neck towards the other gem. Pearl tries to ignore her, to keep looking ahead even as Spinel begins to harshly whisper things that she knew Pearl didn't want to hear.

"Remember? The little games we played in the garden, or whenever Pink would get bored of whoever she brought to play." Pearl's hands twitch, as she takes a quivering breath. "Then again, I don't blame you. Remember could be quite hard for you-"

The familiar feeling of the back of Pearl's fist gives Spinel a smile, even as her head slams into the glass of the window behind her, shattering it. She finds herself laughing again, this time louder and more out of her control as she can feel the wind rushing through her pigtails, and the glass shards stabbing into her.

As she retracts her neck to normal length, her laughter does stop though. Her Steven was in an upright sitting position, gasping for air as he was looking around himself, only stopping once their eyes met. "You're h-." His voice sounded odd, a little more forced, as he stopped to begin coughing.

"You're dehydrated," Pearl tells him, as she glances at the mirror to check on him and lightly hits the control wheel. "I should have at least gotten you something when I stopped for gas." Spinel wanted to say something, to make a comment about Pearl being forgetful and laugh as gem hits her again, but she is interrupted.

Steven awkwardly moves himself over, and sits in a spot between her and Pearl's seats. Without a word he places his hands on her face, one palm on each cheek.

Without knowing what to expect, Spinel froze in place. The thought came that he was going to punish her somehow. To hurt her for failing in the simple task she was given with the human Connie.

But it felt less of an attack, more as if he was caressing her. Cradling her even. Like how she noticed some humans would do to each other back at the hospital, mainly the large ones to the one ones.

His fingers glide along her from. One hand runs upward to her hair, as he almost plays with a pigtail in his grasp. The other hand lowers to her own gem. Hesitantly brushes along its surface.

"I did it. I saved you." He whispers, as he stares at her gem and continues to touch it. Being so close that Spinel could feel him breathing on it. It made her feel something.

It wasn't like the dark thoughts or the itch. It felt more natural, more safe. More intimate. "You were cut open and I fixed you." He whimpers in a low breath before he moves his arm around her and pulls her close as tightly as he could.

A hug. She missed hugs.

But this wasn't right.

"Aren't you mad though? I-"

"Don't. Just don't."

He orders clearly, holding a firm tone. Spinel feels his hands move among her. One rests to the back of her head, the other on the base of her back. "It doesn't matter. Nothing else matters now." A shuddering breath escapes her lips.

He gets it. He actually gets it. And he understands her. It was all pointless now. They've come. The Xenos are here, and soon there isn't going to be much of anything. Nothing really will matter. So she could do it. She can ease his suffering and it would be okay.

Right?

She holds her hands up, and mimics him. Holding them along his back, as she returns his hug. He was fragile. Organic. There were other things to break than just a gem. One squeeze is all it would take.

She shouldn't have hugged him though.

It really allowed her to feel him.

His warmth. His breath. The sense of him being here. Of his every movement.

There was a strange beating sound that rumbled within him. Having a kind of rhythm to it. Wanting to give to him as he does to her, Spinel tries to mimic it as well.

"Bu-bump...bu-bump...bu-bump."

She feels Steven become still in her arms, shocked at the noise. Then he began to laugh. Then cry. All the while, Spinel continued to mimic the sound. Her own tears sliding down her cheek.

The itching was growing. The dark thoughts began to form. They were getting closer to the Brood. The thoughts whispered how much of a scared half-form rock.

They were breaching her mind, crawling and stabbing. Tearing and defiling. She can hear them. Horrible gurgling noises of monsters. Chanting, and moaning. Images of things she didn't want to see flood her mind. Of what they will do to her Steven.

She needs to kill him.

But she can't.

Because holding him made it just a bit more bearable for her. Made it all just hurt a little bit less.

She was a terrible friend.

* * *

"Should have known it wouldn't be that easy," Pearl mumbles as she runs a hand over her own face.

Right before them was a crowd, a large one that looked to be made up of maybe thousands of people. All of them screaming and trying to push themselves forward. Scared and panicking, as they were trying to get closer towards a fence.

Pearl tells him how she needs to make a call, as she pulls her phone out of her gem. While she is speaking Spinel whispers to him. "Wow, that is a lot. Why do you think they are all here?" There was an innocence to how she saw it.

Watching as the crowd huddled together and screaming out the top of their lungs like a child would a circus. As the van moved closer, she got her answer in what they wanted.

The chanting, the screaming, was a demand for them to be taken in. For shelter. For safety. Some were holding their own children up in the air, begging to at least have them be taken to safety. Others were shoving themselves within the crowd, trying to save their own lives.

He could see the guards. Military people, holding guns. Weapons he seen time and time again in movies and games. He sees these common things being held up in the air, being aimed.

Spinel kept watching, but he had to look away. Even covering his ears didn't help much. All the shouting is easily turned to screams, as the loud rattling of automatic weapons fill the air. Even as they finished, the screaming didn't.

"For the love of- fine, fine. We are pulling in." Pearl shouts into the phone, trying to be heard over the muffled screams from outside.

The van is driven along the road till they find an opening, an entrance to go through. The road was narrow, and had crowds on either side, held back by a line of jeeps on either side of the road. Guards were standing by the fence, holding their weapons, seemingly waiting for any that would step towards them.

"Steven, remember what we talk about. Keep your head low, and stay on the floor." Pearl tells him, as she turns toward the entrance and pulls up to the gate that had no less than ten guards in front of it.

What Pearl meant was a kind of talk she had with him. About the kinds of way people act during a crisis. How they panic and act out even when you are trying to help them.

He's seen it first hand, during the many situations they've had where he was and the other crystal gems would save people.

They would get violent, and reckless. Survivors had pulled out weapons on them. Some had actually been willing to use them.

Since then there was a kind of rule for Steven to follow, being the less durable of the gems. He'd keep himself down, try to at least come out only when needed to.

He was against it completely at first. But he only needed to stare down the barrel of a gun once for that to change.

Pulling up the gate, was as bad as any of those times. The crowd was screaming and shouting, throwing out the worst kind of words he's ever heard in his life. All out of spite.

He tried to tell himself that they were just scared. As he always did. Pearl explained to him that these types of places were not made to hold lots of people, that if it did they were more endangered there than outside. That didn't stop them though for wanting to get in.

"How many in the van?" The guard asks as she stares through the window. He is able to get a peek at her. Not even a few years older than himself.

Spinel gave an excited wave, and a smile. Pearl told her there were three of them. He shouted incoming as loud as he could.

It was a glance, right at the rearview mirror. Watching as the crowd reacts poorly to the fences opening. He sees it. A bottle of glass, with a on flame rag placed into it.

His shout came too late.

The bottle smashes against the guard. Her suit and hair immediately lights on fire.

Pearl immediately started driving again. Not even sparing a thought as she almost hits the halfway opened gate and drives towards the bunker.

Behind them, Steven could hear them. The guard screaming her lungs out as her skin burned, the crowd screaming with her. The sounds of the automatic firearms drowning both out.

It wasn't right. It wasn't fair.

There were many things he could say he hated in life. This was one of them. This side of humanity. Of the planet he loved and cherished.

All of it being just snuffed out in a matter of seconds. Around the world, people are dying as is. From these monsters, from these horrible disasters that would suddenly happen for no reason.

So why were they killing each other?

He weeps. He weeps as he doesn't know how else to respond to it all.

This isn't his home. This isn't what he wanted to save so many times. All the ugliness he's seen so far. It all made it more clear this was all but a nightmare for him.

One that didn't want to end.

When he is able to compose himself, he does so outside of the large steel door after leaving the Van, walking through several halls, and heading down two different elevators.

It took him a second to realize what he was stepping back into. He was meeting them again.

These people, these government officials.

"What are we doing here again?" Spinel asks bitterly, her arms were wrapped around his own. Clinging to his side. Someone she'd done since they broke apart from their hug. With him honestly not having the heart to tell her to stop.

Pearl stood to his other side. Not even bothering to spare her a glance as she answered. "We're here because there's more of those creatures attacking places, doing so all over this planet, simultaneously. The humans are fighting back, but without any real plans there is only so much we can do." Turning her attention down to him, Steven gives out a low breath he didn't know he was even holding in.

"We are meeting with some people. They're going to tell us everything they know, and we tell them everything we know. After that, maybe we can all come up with a way to fix this to stop them."

He tries to have hope in his voice. He tries to make it seem that there was a glimmer of a chance with this. But it was becoming much too hard for him to even pretend at this point.

As far as he knew, Spinel was the closest thing to an expert that they had. And that left them with little to tell the officials.

This isn't like before when the crystal gems were fighting the corrupt gems or those fusion experiments. These things were in every sense of the word, aliens to them.

Far as they knew, far as they had seen online or heard over the radio, there was no means of communication.

Meaning there was no motive or reasoning for such brutal attacks. What did he do to earn all this hate? What did the planet itself do?

Spinel pulls one of her arms off his and pokes her own chin in thought. "Stop them? But you can't." She wasn't snarky, she wasn't telling a joke. She was being serious.

"How can you say that? We can."

"Because those are only the start-"

She is stopped as the door in front of them is opened from the inside. The conversation was placed on hold for now. Steven quickly stiffens himself up and pulls himself out of Spinel's grip. It was time to finally take steps forward. He was going to fix things here and now.

* * *

"How long have they've been at this?" Spinel fails to hold back a giggle at his tone. At him trying to hold groan, trying not to whine. Spinel knew little of these types of things. Of these serious meetings.

Only what Pink had complained to her about with the other diamonds. And it seems that it was holding true here. Lots of talking, no room to play or do anything fun. They were meetings for when she was supposed to be mature. When she was supposed to be sure of herself, focused, ready to take a stand to present her thoughts.

Or at least try to. It seems hard to do so when everyone is yelling so much.

"Literally for hours," Pearl tells him, keeping in her proper seating position as she had her hands folded and her eyes focused ahead of her, as she was analyzing every word spoken. Just like pink said she would.

"13942 seconds to be exact. And counting." Spinel corrected. While the other two sat, Spinel stood behind them. Enjoying the new snack brought to her, that she had saved in her gem from an earlier stop at the station for fuel.

Spinel forgot what they were called, but what she does know is that they are black, white, creamy in the middle, and they taste great. With each bite almost making her want to squeak in joy from the taste. Steven had tried telling her to be quiet. Pearl had threatened to just poof her. She couldn't help herself though.

Personally, she saw nothing wrong with it. All she did was add some much-needed life into this room.

Aside from the group of humans sitting around the table yelling, there was nothing remarkable about the room, or the people inside it. There were humans acting as guards, holding tools, and matching uniforms, yet they were barely acting. Some would shift uncomfortably. Others would snicker under their breaths as they waited.

She can feel the itch once more. Feel as it crawled in her mind. It wasn't them. Not the Xenos. Only the Brood. All of them rushing to their spots, as they ready themselves.

Spinel could feel her own brow raise as she saw one run its tongue over its lips. This was something they were doing on their own. Some idea that they had to please their patriarch.

Worst of it all was that she could understand them. She can understand the need they have, the feelings that infested the Brood.

They were happy.

Happy to listen. Happy to please. Happy to not be left alone. To be of use to those they worshipped. Those they loved.

She was like them that way, and more. Connected between it and the Brood, she knows what they want. Knows what they've done. What they are planning to do. Such things weren't much different than what she would have done.

It was funny. Made her want to laugh for even having a moment to think she was special.

Just a tool. Just another toy. Used and forgotten by someone.

She laughs under her breath at the dark thoughts. An act that was quickly noticed, and shushed by Pearl. Telling her to be quiet, to which Spinel couldn't agree more with.

To see it happen, to watch as the same kind of realization comes to them as it did here.

She loudly laughed at the pointlessness of it all. At the Brood, at herself, this meeting. Everything.

She holds her head back, as she grips at her hair. Her form quivering as she was laughing so madly she couldn't help herself.

Yet she stopped the moment he turned around and called her name. "Sorry, thought of something really funny." Her Steven takes a sigh, as he runs his hand over his face. "It's okay, less you manage to get their attention." He whispers as he turns back to the other humans that sat on the table with him, all of which had finally stopped arguing and had turned to stare at her.

She was smiling. Smiling so wide she can feel her mouth elongate to express it, even as Pearl gave her glare it didn't impeach her. She was glad. Glad to be of help. Glad to be his friend. It helped her think. Helped her focus on other things then what's in her head.

Such as what was being said between her Steven, the humans, and Brood. She admits the words became hard to follow. Earth concepts she wasn't familiar with, ranks and places.

They spoke of the Xenos. Their numbers and how overwhelming it was. With them losing ground, and numbers by the hour. By the minute.

Power plants, military bases, water treatment plants, hospitals, research centers, airports, shipyards, cities, towns, villages, forests, oceans, deserts, snow-covered mountains.

They appeared, attacking everywhere they could. With no human being spared. All under the command of the Brood. What they couldn't do with their own numbers, they had the others at their call. Sabotaging defenses for the planet by getting rid of leaders, and equipment.

She looks to the humans, the ones sitting with her Steven. They were dirty, with red stains and scratches on their forms. White wrappings around their arms, head, or neck. She remembers how they spoke about being replacements. How they were survivors of the attacks.

They acted like they knew, that they understood. But they didn't know anything of the Xenos.

Spinel held back a laugh, as she spits out the chewed up shack to the floor. Enjoying the show played before her.

One human talked about how weapons and vehicles were destroyed during one of the raids. Another spoke about communication being taken down during another raid. They talked about how many they are. How organized they could be. If there was a place they were all coming from.

They talked and talked, and soon it led to arguments once more, about what other people thought was more important.

And that was it. That was why they didn't get it. Not like she did. Not like her Steven did.

Try as he might to keep the peace Steven's voice is barely heard as he tries to talk back to them. When they had asked a question towards the Diamonds, Pearl had answered them. Saying how they are unable to call them due to issues of their own they've been having for the past year.

And the humans were not happy to hear that. There was much yelling.

Some directed to gems as a race, some at Steven personally. Talking about him being too young for this, what the earth has done to put up a lot with these gems, the laws Steven asked to be made, that the tyrants who have committed multiple war crimes were good now, so on and so on.

It was belligerent, insulting. And it was the funniest thing Spinel had ever seen in her whole existence.

"-a mutant bomb in our planet!"

"- 'corrupt' gems that-"

"-the war crimes committed-"

"- threatening the planet with destru-"

They screamed their issues on and on, all towards her Steven. Shouting over whatever could be said back to them. She watches as her Steven stops mid-plead. As he silently places a hand to his face and looks down in shame.

She knew he understood. This was why.

This is why they lose.

Anger. Fear. Paranoia. Hate. Pride. Disgust. Envy.

It was all they went on about for the gems as a whole. Completely forgetting about the Xenos. About the hive.

Just as the Brood wanted.

Because they were much like the hive when it came to such things. There is no hate. There is no fear. No pride, no anger. Nothing. They feel nothing. Nothing but hunger.

She looks across the table, where one of the Brood sat. A hand over his mouth, trying to hide his own smile. At how well his trap had sprung.

He laughed. Spinel laughed.

The guards laughed as they pointed their weapons.

The Brood is acting.

* * *

It didn't matter.

Nothing here seemed to matter. Not the lives outside, not what he was trying to do. Not the lives he was trying to save.

They screamed at him. Berate him. Instead of just shutting up and just focusing on the real issues, they just brought up the same stuff they would always argue over with him.

It just didn't matter.

When he realized that simple fact, he stopped trying to fight back. He just had to look away from them. People around the planet were getting killed and they were here arguing about things they've been already arguing about for years like nothing has changed.

Pearl still tried to reach them, trying to push the issue back to the monsters, but they just kept talking. Nothing was made. People outside the very building were being killed by their own people and this was happening instead of trying to stop it.

The worst part is, he couldn't blame them. They were scared. Many of them were just thrust into new positions as these monsters came. Those before them were killed, with themselves being attacked and only barely living.

It all stopped when the laughing came.

When he heard Spinel, he wasn't surprised. To her, it must have been another joke she knew or another morbid thought she had. He knew she had plenty of those through the drive in the van together.

Then the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the very man acting as the president, began laughing with her. Then the guards soon followed as they pointed their rifles at them.

* * *

Pandemonium.

That was the only word that can describe it. The word that can truly relate to everything that is happening to him, to his world, or at least the world he thought was his. Because it isn't his world anymore.

It's theirs.

The monsters. The things from the stars.

They called them Star Children. Claiming them to be delivered from the stars. Beings that would grace them. Bestowed them with vigor, hope, and love. To take them towards the greatness of higher beings.

Worshippers. Fanatics. Cultist.

They had planned for it. They had planned for everything. Calling themselves the Brood, they explained it for him. Even in the secure bunker, he heard the sounds of gunshots. Of machine guns firing. Of people dying.

The safest place on the planet became one of the most dangerous places within a blink of an eye. All it took was meeting the right people, was having them be enlightened.

He saw how the spread happened with the lieutenant herself. She had tried to fight back; she had lost a hand in doing so.

She cried, she screamed, she begged…

And they didn't stop.

It made him feel disgusting just to watch yet couldn't look away. He can hear Pearl choke on her breath at the sight, as she forms her spear. Spinel just continued to laugh. So loudly he barely was able to hear the offer they gave him.

They asked him to join. To be one with them, for the gems to be used to help the swarm.

He refused. And things became so much worse. So very much worse.

They had to fight through the room, through the halls, there the entire complex. The entire place was compromised. And saw the horror that it truly meant with things. He saw soldiers, engineers, doctors, human beings killing each other. He watched as limbs were blown off, as heads were creaked open, throats slit, guts being ripped and tore out with bare hands.

The cultist, the death worshipping monsters in human flesh didn't even care for their own lives. They just charge onward, no matter how many of them are cut down by the ordered fire, no matter the amounts of bodies, they continue on. Chanting and raving. Even as their own allies shot at them. They did so, covering the bubble in blood. Blinding them.

The bubble held against firearms, with it perfectly seeming to hold against the automatic rifles. That easily changed when they had gotten into more open space though. He learned really fast what mortars were. And had learned even faster how dangerous they were, especially inside enclosed spaces.

The bubble was overwhelmed, shattered. And the Brood immediately came upon them.

Pearl killed them. Each one that came close, was met with her spear. Many years of experience shows as she easily takes them down, fending each of them off as he regained his bearing. As he did, she took his hand and they ran. Over the bodies, of those she killed. He formed his shield, as they entered the motor pool. They're way out.

And that was when the real monsters came.

The so-called Star Children.

No amount of new coverage could ever convey what they are like. No single image or video feed would hold a tenth of the amount of terror they held. He saw what may entail the horror of what their enlightenment meant. He saw several of them, with hideous parodies of human features of them. Skin, eyes, noses, all disgustingly stretched over inhuman features. Wearing clothing to cover themselves. A disgusting disgrace of gems and their fusions. Some even spoke. Chanting, and raving as the other cultists had.

Swiftly they came, and with no mercy to be had. What few normal humans were left were all targeted. And they tried so hard to fight back. Bullets and explosives meant nothing to them though. They continued to rush through. Some were ripped apart and feasted upon. Others were mutilated into bloody messes on the floor.

They were the lucky ones.

Those that didn't meet any end, received something far worse.

He ran with Pearl, towards his father's van. Towards their freedom, as quickly as they could. There was a moment of hope, and as fast as it came, it went away. As the Van was utterly crushed under the weight of another one of the monsters. One that looked like that of the swarm, but at least twice times their size. It snarled as it looked down at them.

He raised his shield, holding it as firmly as he could, enlarging it as much as possible for him.

It shattered like glass, and the large arm hits both him and Pearl, sending them flying off. It was a simple hit, a simple wave of the hand as it didn't even seem to put much effort into the attack. Yet, nothing he's ever fought had ever struck him that hard. Had made him feel his very chest collapsed in on itself, had made him spew vomit and blood from his throat with about half a rows worth of teeth and gums, had his arm feel more like a bag of sand than filled with bones, had his vision turn black for several seconds, his head leaking blood and odd white bits from his ears.

To make things very clear. He was hit, very, very, hard.

When he was able to see once more, he was only barely able to make out Pearl as she was trying to grasp onto him, while the giant of a monster was rushing towards them. She sees it heading towards them and picks up one of the soldier's rifles. She fired it, and even as the bullets struck the rushes creature perfectly, it might as well be as effective as pebbles with how it bounced off its shell.

There was almost a moment of bliss in it. As he watched the beast rushing towards him, he believed that it was truly the end. For himself, for the pain at least. That he could his eyes and maybe, finally he would meet an ending for this nightmare.

He couldn't even earn himself that. As the giant of a monster stopped right before them. They had their answer why in a second in the form of a hollowed growl, that is heard even in the chaotic filled screaming and gunfire motor pool they were in.

It followed him here.

The same creature that killed his father, that killed Connie. Was standing right over himself and Pearl. Its shimmering chameleonic scales were shifting itself out of hiding, allowing him to see it sharing down at him. The third time it's done such a thing.

If he had the breath to scream, he would have done so on that spot.

Instead, he was only able to watch as it was suddenly hit by a big military truck going at full speed and smashing it into a nearby wall. Followed quickly by said truck's side port opening, as a large pink fist stretches out and knocks the giant monster away from them.

He had completely forgotten about Spinel. And in return she saved them.

She spoke so happily and cheerfully, despite everything around them as she pokes her head out the side port. Joking about learning what the "Foot thingy" did when stepped on, and that she knew paying attention to Pearl was a good idea.

He wasn't able to think much about responding to her. His mind was blank, in shock would be the medical term. He was barely able to realize Pearl had picked him up, till he was already placed within the truck, seated in the passenger side by Spinel. He was able to hear Pearl as she was talking to him, telling him it was going to be okay.

Because the thing wasn't dead. The stalking creature that had followed them to the bunker lifted its head up and shoves the entire truck with enough force to nearly turn the entire vehicle over. As it slammed down back on its front wheels, Spinel just laughed as she drove into it again.

It gets hard to remember what happens after this though. He remembers Pearl giving orders, Spinel not listening. He remembers the monster not dying. He remembers the giant one, as it gave an ear-deafening roar and ran at them. He remembers how Spinel reversed the truck, and they began to drive off to leave the so-called safest place on earth.

And he remembers how it wished it could have been so simple.

Instead, as they were nearing the exit, part of the truck's roof was ripped open. The inhuman monsters, the smaller ones came in grasping and biting, with razor-sharp talons that tore through the steel like it was paper.

Pearl was grabbed.

He didn't even have the strength to turn his head to look toward her, to watch as she struggled as hard as possible against them all. She screamed go keep driving, she screamed to leave her behind. Because of him.

His name was the last thing he heard from her, was the last time he would ever hear her voice as she and the creatures fell off the truck. And she was very quickly overwhelmed by the horde that was rushing after them.

As his vision turned dark once more, he looked to the side-view mirror. The shrinking reversed image of her struggling against them, as they pulled her away back into the bucker is the last image he ever had, of the woman that was a true mother to him. The last family he had.

After that, it was dark.

Now?

Now he is on the road once more. This time, he himself was driving. Doing so one-handed, as he was still healing. If there was one thing he will lament, is that his own healing abilities do not work on him as well as it does others. The simple fact he was dreading as every small bit of movement, gave him nothing but agony.

Still, he took it all. As he kept him awake. As it kept him focused. Kept him from falling apart.

Spinel was sitting where he was, not too long ago. Keeping surprisingly silent as she was holding her knees towards her chest. Sometimes she would joke about things. About the sights they see. Such as quickly driving through a town, and seeing people. Men, women, children. Families, friends, neighbors. Eyes glazed and faces twisted in glee, as they performed horrid rituals out in the open, as they murdered innocent people or were holding orders down to bring them into enlightenment…

"Wow! Humans are gross! Don't worry, you're only half gross though." That joke wasn't funny the first time. It wasn't funny the 47th time.

Other times, she would just sit silently as stares out the window. Steven would be rather hard-pressed to say he doesn't prefer her like this. On one hand, she is obviously sad, her mindset in a very quiet and dark place. On the other, it wasn't as if he wasn't in such a place himself.

When she got like this, he kept silent as well, with neither of them having much to say to each other. This didn't mean that the ride was completely quiet though, as the radio was on. He left it so that he might hear something of good news by chance. That maybe there is hope.

But like with the monsters, when the cultists struck, they did so together at once. All over the world. Wasn't that long before the emergency broadcast was taken over.

"In the sunless body of our hive, the flock of the faithful grows. We are guided by our Great Father's sacred vision, protected by his loving hands. Within these holy shadows we dwell, while the impure bathe in spire-top starlight. And what lies between those stars? What sails beyond those distant suns? Shrouded in night, borne within that eternal black: Our redeemers, our Gods - truer than the silent, long-dead god or false gem prophets - the Children of the Void. We hear them in our dreams, we feel them in our blood. They call and we will answer. We will rise and claim the engines of labor that have bound us in servitude. This world will burn. It will be cleansed, purified, made ready, and the Heavens will deliver our reward!"

Spinel's foot smashed into the radio, breaking it apart. He tells her his thanks, and she nods, as he continues to tightly grip at the wheel of the truck, with his only working hand. Trying to drive along the road, trying to keep himself focused on the phone propped up on the dashboard, that showed the map on the way back to his home. To Beach City.

Hours went on by, he could tell as he sees the power running low on the phone. Pearl's phone. He tried to think of something to do. Wanting to call Peridot, ask what was happening at the city and the other gems. The only issue that would come from that though, would be what he would say to her when she asks him questions?

Or worst, if she wouldn't even pick up at all.

If his home was gone, if the gems were gone, then he just wouldn't know what to do. What he could do anymore. Peridot could maybe build or fix something that can help, Lapis could maybe control all the water on earth to help them, Bismuth could maybe make his shield able to take a single hit. It wasn't much of anything. He hasn't even heard from the latter two in days, so they could be shattered for all he knows. But it was all he had.

They took so much from him already.

Connie.

His Dad.

Amethyst, Garnet, Pearl.

The people he loved most in the world. All taken. His body is broken, and slowly putting itself together as he is forced to experience every bit of pain. The only thing keeping him here. The only thing keeping him sane is hope.

Hope that he can fix this. That he would find a way to stop the monsters. That even as grim and dark it maybe there was a chance for him to win, a chance to fight. To push back against the darkness.

He has done it before…

But this wasn't at all like with any gem. This wasn't like anything he faced before. Why? Because That hope inside him dies as he looks towards the sky.

"They're here." Spinel tells him. "I told you, there were a lot more of them. Very, very, much more. And...and..." He should've listened. He should have tried harder to prepare. He should have prayed.

Spinel's voice is barely heard for him as they bloated the sky. Covered more than the cloudiest of days. A massive dark shape that was slowly lowering itself down. With it came something else. A meteor shower. The likes of which he never seen before, even in the most unrealistic of movies.

At any time pier to the past few days, he would have been in wonder at the beauty of it all.

Now, it just made his breath get caught in his throat, his eyes widened, his heart drop to his stomach. Because it was less fitting to call it a shower, more so to call it a rain.

A rain of billions, or even trillions of things as they fall downward toward the planet. It wasn't even a full minute as the phone before him immediately showed a small notification. Stopping the truck, he reaches it. Even as the world began to fall apart people were online.

He sees it. One of the things that rain down, a fleshy meteorite. An organic shell that had crushed its way through several homes and streets. Had long tentacles that lashed out around it, crushing or impaling anyone near it.

For a moment he had thought it was some new monster, a new nightmarish thing to face, then he found out it was just a spore. A carrier. It was ripped open from within as an entire pack of new creatures ripped their way out.

New image after new image he scrolls through. Seeing new creatures, new monsters. In packs, in groups. They fly now. They had weapons. They were overrunning cities. Overwhelm what little defenses were left.

It took him a moment to look at Spinel as she was saying the words, as she was holding a hand to her head and another to her gem. Shaking as tears rolled down her eyes, as her face twisted and contorted in invisible pain.

"They are coming. I feel them scratching inside my mind, scratching, screaming, running, so many - so, so many voices. It's so much worse than it ever was before. They are coming for us - for everything." Her voice quivers as she speaks, just as her body shakes. He isn't able to react much, as he turns back to the sky as it rained down more spores.

He feels her as she presses herself to his side. As she cries onto him, she tells him she's sorry. She's sorry for failing him. She's sorry for this to happen to him. She's sorry for not killing him in his sleep. She's sorry for not being good enough to be taken by Pink. She's sorry for listening to Pearl and not going back to get her. She's sorry.

He places his hand on her back, as he continues to stare at the sky. The only act of comfort he could possibly provide to the gem, as she held him.

A memory comes to him. One he shared with Connie, over two years or so ago. A random yet, oddly fitting memory. It was schoolwork for herself, a kind of project she needed to do by researching this book. A short story, detailing a conversation over a chess match between two men. The idea of the story was the two's conflicting ideologies about humanity. About how it will end.

One of the men was an author that wrote short horror tales. He spoke about humanity reaching its downfall by looking to the stars. When the time will come, it will bring the arrival of something that can only be described as an unknown horror. That they cannot come to comprehend or stop. That humanity will be erased and forgotten about, in an uncaring unfeeling universe.

The other man was a scientist, a physicist. He spoke about how humanity will collapse in on itself, allowing its own hubris to swell to a point where they forget how easy it will be to topple themselves. One conjoined action, one simple shared thought would be all it would take. Humanity will only be able to watch itself, as they ruin everything that was built for them.

Low and behold, both were right.

The monsters from the stars.

The cultists that were his fellow man.

He remembers laughing with Connie at the idea. He remembers thinking of the stars with the gems, as he had known they would never do such a thing. He remembers thinking about all the great people he met, and while they can be misguided at times, they would never allow something so bad to happen.

He was naive.

The ending of the story comes to mind. That the main argument meets an odd end for it. Finishing with a sentence that is shared between the two men. A statement to the reader themselves.

"We know the world will not always be the same. When the time comes a few people will laugh... a few people will cry... most people will be silent. Some will seek to run, but there will be no shelter. Some will seek to hide, but there will be no path to flee. There will be a time when we believe nothing can go wrong. Where life will be seen at its pinnacle. Not perfect as there will be issues, sure, but we will foolishly believe we can solve them. Once that time is reached, by then the stars will be right, the end will come. Maybe it will be sudden, maybe it will be slow, but it will come. With its form varying as it does so.

Be it something as complicated as a cataclysmic event, or something more simple, doing so in the multi-armed form of a beast as it says 'I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.'

I suppose we all will know when that time comes, one way or another."

* * *

**Genestealers**

**There are many terrifying creatures in the Tyranid hive fleets, but one in particular has carved out a horrifying and bloody legend on more than a thousand worlds. A lurker in dark places, a clawed harbinger of sudden death. It is known as the Genestealer, and it is a plague upon the galaxy. Able to function with full independence from the Hive Mind they serve as the vanguard organisms of the hive fleets, similarly to the Lictors. **

**Let it be known, all it takes is a single Genestealer, to doom an entire planet. For once it makes landfall, the creature will begin the process of its downfall. Doing so stealthily and as hidden as possible. While they may have lightning-fast reflexes and serrated claws that can tear through even the thickest of armor, that is not their most dangerous weapon. Instead, their main tool is known as the Broodmind, a shared consciousness that enables them to act as an autonomous unit together, forming plans and coordinating attacks together. **

**Add this with their ability to rapidly evolve and there is a multi-level threat to be had, such as them gaining the ability to camouflage to their surroundings or forming acidic blood. This collimates to the ultimate product of Genestealer evolution, the Broodlord.**

**A Genestealer, twice in size and ability. Acting as commanders for the Tyranid assault forces, personally leading attacks. With its size and power being enough to decimate whole units within moments.**

**And yet, this is not what makes the Genestealer such a large threat.**

_"I can think of few greater Xenos threats to the Imperium than that of the Genestealer. An apex predator possessed of intelligence and cunning that rival our own, they exist for the sole purpose of reproducing in vast numbers and sowing utter chaos in their wake."_

— _Inquisitor Kalistradi, of the Ordo Xenos_

* * *

**Genestealer Cult**

**The true terror of Genestealer's lies in their parasitic reproductive cycle. Once it makes landfall, the lone Genestealer will go into hiding, waiting decades if necessary before making its move, studying the planet and it's life forms. **

**Once it is certain of being able to acquire victims whilst remaining undetected, it will strike them with "The Genestealer's kiss". A disgusting parody of the intimate act, as it thrusts its long, whip-like tongue into the body of the host, where it deposits its DNA in the form of a virus that infects them and their genes.**

**With this small action, the end of that planet begins, with the infected host's mind being enslaved to the alien, worshipping it as a deity. From then on the infected would seek out to reproduce by any means possible. Infecting more people through the act, and birthing Genestealer hybrids.**

**These hybrids make up the number of the cult. With each generation, appearing more like the host's species as they go by. By the fourth generation, they are perfectly able to blend with the civilization and act as agents for the cult. As fifth generations give birth to pure-strain Genestealers, just as alien as the original progenitor of the cult.**

**The Genestealer at the heart of the cult, known as the "Patriarch," has an inherent psychic control over every one of these minions, no matter the generation. The Patriarch unites them in single sentience - a gestalt consciousness known as the Broodmind. Sensing out psychic beacon towards the hive fleet, letting them know of its next meal. As the fleet draws close, the cult will begin to prepare for their arrival. Destroying the planet's defenses, killing off leaders. The uprising to allow the arrivals of their gods.**

**Without knowing they are just as much prey as anyone else.**

"_We are biological perfection. We blend the ingenuity and cunning of Mankind with the blessings of the Star Children. We are stronger, faster, more intelligent than any who challenge us. We will take that which is ours from the upworlders, and remake it in the image of our true masters. It is our destiny."_

—_Monthros Amaparha, Speaker of Galactic Truths_


	4. UPDATE

**[Hello everyone, just coming with news of this fanfic, and I am sorry for how long this is, just letting you all know that I am working on a proper ending for this, just was very much slowed down with personal stuff and all I won't bore you with. I am working on the last chapter, and I am just putting this up to tell all about another update, being to that of the first chapter, where I fixed some stuff.**  
**Just putting into asking if you would like me to fix the other two chapters or just end this.**

**I would like to thank everyone reading this, and I would like any feedback you have to give on me, be it on dialogue, story structure, action, etc. etc.]**


End file.
